


Silence of Ponyville: The Shop

by Zehntacles



Series: Silence of Ponyville [2]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Gen, Silent Hill - Freeform, dreamer dust, knick knack, silent ponyville
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 09:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 71,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6278881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zehntacles/pseuds/Zehntacles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <img/>
</p><p> </p><p>Knick Knack awakens in an altered version of his home after receiving a magical treatment for terrible nightmares. In this strange, darker Ponyville he attempts to find a way back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to the story Silence of Ponyville, a prequel to the story Silent Ponyville by Sam Rose, who also created the cover art for both stories. Please visit and support.
> 
> This is a non-profit fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. This story is a continuation to Silence of Ponyville, which is a side story of Silent Ponyville and Silent Ponyville 2 by author Sam Rose. While it is highly suggested to read the previous stories before this one. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Silent Ponyville concept belongs to Sam Rose. Please support both.

"I don't think it's working." He commented aloud, expecting a female voice to chastise him for speaking while she was working. But the response never came. "I don't really feel any different. Was something supposed to happen?" He questioned aloud again but still no response, his closed eyes not giving him any direction as to what was happening around him. Fed up with the lack of response he decided to go against instructions and rise up from his laying position on the couch. "Dreamer, was there something I was supposed to do or... what the...?" Blinking awake, the stallion looked around himself to find that his surroundings had changed significantly. "Where... where am I? This looks like..." 

His room. His plain, old, regular room. Knick Knack blinked in confusion and rubbed his foreleg against his eyes to help coax them awake and figure out what was going on. For a week now he'd been plagued with nightmares so intense he could barely have a night's sleep without waking a few hours later. His marefriend Annie Smith concerned for his well being had attempted to fend off his nightmares with some tender loving care; spending the night with him. However, it was unfortunately not enough, as they had still come full force and kept him from a night's sleep once more. With their solutions becoming more and more scarce, Annie had suggested they go speak with their unicorn friend Dreamer Dust.

Dreamer Dust had always been an unusual pony for Knick Knack to deal with. It wasn't that he disliked her; she was very friendly, outgoing and cheerful. Many of the colts around town admired her as she was one of the few unicorns in Ponyville and a pretty one at that. But despite that kindness there was always something about her that made Knick uneasy. He didn't know if it was her magic, her mannerisms, or that it felt like she was flirting with him every time they spoke. However, he admitted there wasn't anyone else to turn to, so he let Annie Smith lead him that morning to Dreamer's fortune telling shop/bookstore. As usual, she was more than overjoyed to have them over, and just as eager to help.

That was how he had been left alone in Dreamer's store with her company, Annie Smith having to return to her farm lest she disappoint her father Black Smith; who Knick was pretty sure hated him. Despite that, Annie and he were allowed to date with minimal interference and he counted himself grateful that he was able to maintain his relationship with her. Which only made it all the more stressful that he was being left alone with the pretty, flirty, and violet unicorn. Dreamer had assured them both that she had a spell just for Knick's nightmares and would have him cured in no time. However, Knick wasn't the greatest of optimists, so he had made sure to let Annie know he loved her in case he wound up in a coma for a month or something because of a spell gone wrong. But now...

"I didn't... I didn't dream the entire thing did I?" Rising from his bed the orange earth pony with the blond mane slowly slid off the sheets and got to his feet, feeling surprisingly better physically than his sleep deprived body had been earlier in the day. At least he assumed it was earlier in the day. There was a dark color coming in from behind the curtains in his bedroom making him wonder if evening was approaching. "No that's just silly... I think." Groaning and stretching Knick trotted slowly into his bathroom to wash his face and try to recap everything that had happened.

"Okay so I just woke up in my room... when did I go to sleep?" With his erratic sleeping scheduled that could have been any number of times in the past. Yesterday he'd stayed up until Annie had come over to his place to help him sleep, and from there he'd been woken up from another nightmare and hadn't gone back to bed since. "Was it then? Did we never go to Dreamer's?" Maybe her staying over had actually helped him. If that was the case she must have woken up and gone off to the farm to let him sleep. But then if that was the case why was he on top of his covers instead of under the sheets. She couldn't have made them with him still sleeping on the bed. 

"No that doesn't make sense, I remember that too clearly anyway." Okay, so he must have actually gone to Dreamer's place to get her magic treatment, whatever it was. He knew from the time they had been there to the time he'd laid on her couch he had everything accounted for. So maybe he fell asleep then? "Makes the most sense..." He was looking himself over in the mirror and noticed the terrible bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Pulling out some mouthwash, he started to swish it around while considering the possibilities further. He didn't remember a thing after Dreamer Dust informed him she would be using her spell. So maybe he'd fallen asleep instantly after she'd cast it and not had any dreams? 

"So then... she put me to sleep without nightmares and carried me home?" The idea of being alone with Dreamer Dust had been a bit nerve wracking already. The further idea of her bringing him home and being in his bedroom with him was... well a lot more nerve wracking and a little exciting at the same time. The thought of Annie walking in on that seemed to multiply the feelings tenfold either direction depending on whether she'd be happy or upset with the scene. Knick spit out the mouthwash at that point, after deciding that maybe that wasn't the best line of thought. "Okay, better get my mind out of the gutter." Hot mare fantasies aside, he knew he better check in with Annie before it go too late. 

Exiting his bathroom and in turn his bedroom, Knick proceeded down the stairs to his store with a yawn that filled the building space with its loud noise. Not that he was concerned, since clearly no one was around to hear it. Carefully but tiredly he walked down the stairs and Knick began to weave around his store shelves with a second nature to the front door, barely looking forward the entire time. When he got to the door he turned the lock for the dead bolt and pulled at the door to exit. It didn't budge. Blinking he gave it a few harder tugs thinking maybe it had gotten jammed and he'd have to call up Tough Odds to come by and give it a look. As he was absentmindedly pulling at the door, Knick began to register the metallic sound of chains shaking with each pull of his hoof. It sobered his tired mind quickly as he looked up at the front door. 

Chains... chains covered the door every which way. In nearly random pattern they crossed, secured by locks and metal loops that were bolted into the wall around the entrance. So tightly did they weave over the door that Knick's pulling didn't cause the door to swing even a little ways open. The doorway was sealed shut. Furthermore, on the door, written in what looked like red paint, were the words "DON'T LET HIM SEE!"

"What... the hay?" Knick stared on in disbelief, not really registering what he was seeing at first. He sat on the ground, reading the red writing and then looking upon his confines until he was able to understand what was before him. "Okay... um... okay. Let's stay calm." He gulped and rose to his hooves again, looking around the store with a growing sense of dread. It was different too. The store looked as if no one had cared for it in some time, and while Knick was never the best and tidying up it never had the appearance of neglect before. Worn away wooden shelves, rusted metal and dust covered goods everywhere. The products, well... they weren't even his goods. Each item on the shelf looked like something he would carry except too worn away from age and disuse. Furthermore, they were not the things he had for sale just yesterday. Slowly turning to observe the room Knick felt his breath quicken. He forced himself to stop.

"Okay, we are not panicking! We are not... this is just a joke. Yeah." He looked back at the words written across the door and tried to ignore his mind informing him that this was serious. "This is not serious. Clearly my friends are pulling a joke on me. Yeah, that's it". While he was getting treated for a serious problem with nightmares his friends had put him in a coma, rearranged his entire store, bolted up the door from the INSIDE, and left him on the bed to find it. "An extremely elaborate joke. Like... amazingly elaborate." Knick walked through his store to confirm that yes, just about everything had been changed. Other than the fixtures, all of his stock had been replaced. There was worn away paper products, dolls, mane-care products and little odds and ends that were all aged and discarded in appearance. The only obvious thing that still remained was a few pictures on the wall and his record player in the corner of the store by the cash register. 

Knick let out a sigh and decided that he was just going to calmly head to the back of the store, exit through the back door, and proceed to freak out all over Wither Rose and Spring Shade. This had those two written all over it. "I bet they got Tough Odds to chain up the door too. Well, we'll see if they get their deliveries on time this week or not." Knick was calming himself trying to think of pranks to pull back on them as he head into the store room.

He'd honestly expected to see all of his stock shoved back here for the joke, but shockingly the store room looked as if it was in just as bad of condition as the rest of the store. Just like before everything was changed; the boxes were rearranged, anything like tools or items that weren't stored in boxes were worn and rusted from disuse, and most concerning in the very back of the store room there was a solid, wooden wall. "...where's the door?" This was starting to spiral far beyond a joke as Knick walked briskly past the discarded store products and put his hoof against the wall. It was solid wood that was who knew how thick, and there was no indication that there had ever been a door built into it. Knick gulped down the lump in his throat for a second time as he tapped his hoof on the wall and then let it slide off. 

"This can't be real. It can't be!" He looked around to see if maybe there was some sort of lever or edge to push the wall aside, that possibly this was still a prank. No matter how good a carpenter Tough Odds was, Knick didn't think he could erase a door. How long had he been asleep? As Knick was getting ready to turn back out towards the storefront he noticed a piece of paper that wasn't in as bad of condition as everything else. "What's this?" Sliding some boxes aside to pick it up, he read the paper to himself.

"The light of the rarest of silver will dispel the approaching of darkness." 

"... what the hay does that mean!?" He looked at the paper as if it would speak up to clarify itself but of course no such thing happened. Letting out a groan as he let the paper slide from his hoof he proceeded back out to the storefront again. He was forcing himself to walk calmly despite his instincts screaming at him to run, not that he knew where to. 

"You are not trapped." He told himself, looking around the store. "You are not trapped. You are not trapped in your own building. There is a way out of here." Both normal exits were out of the picture, which left an abnormal exit. "You are not trapped because you are going to go out the window." He told himself reassuringly approaching the one closest to the door. "You're going to climb out the window like a burglar in your own home. Then you are going to find those ponies that did this and you are going to inform them..." Wood. As he pulled aside the curtains he was met with planks of wood, covering the window from top to bottom and nailed thoroughly into the wall. Knick stared in disbelief that even this had been denied him. Seeing just a sliver of light Knick pressed himself up against the opening, looking to try and get somepony's attention that he was still alive in here. 

"Why is there so much fog?" He wondered aloud looking at the street in front of him, or what he could see of it. Only a few feet from the window was visible as the streets of Ponyville were encased in a thick blanket of fog. He'd never seen such weather in town before, the pegasi would never allow it. But here it was, as unbelievable as the condition of his home, and just as helpful. He let out a sigh and proceed to check the other windows, all so well boarded not even a sliver of light shined through. So he was indeed trapped. "This can't be happening. Why is this happening!?" He gritted his teeth and clenched his eyes shut in frustration, wanting to scream out. Maybe that would get somepony's attention, but he was too frustrated to even do that. Instead he stomped a hoof on the ground and shook one of the nearby shelves in the process. Letting out a sigh he began to slowly walk back towards his room, the only normal looking part of the house left. "Maybe one of the upstairs windows is open..." He tried to reassure himself but he was fairly positive they wouldn't be.

Slowly weaving back through the display shelves to the front desk, he stopped, suddenly seeing something that was out of the ordinary. Well, his entire store was out of the ordinary, but this one thing stood out as it wasn't decrepit or aged like the rest of the building. Walking to the front desk he reached out and held up a pocket watch with a chain attached. It had been sitting on the front desk like someone had left it there to be purchased, shining with a metallic gleam that nothing else seemed to have. Knick looked it over curiously. "What's this doing here? I never had a watch." Holding it up against his ear he didn't hear any ticking and looking it over there was no place for a key to wind it up. He pressed the button on the top to open the closed door over the clock face but it just clicked with no results. "This thing busted? Why would it be here?" He pressed the button a few more times with no result and grumbled setting it back on the counter. "Junk. Just like everything else in here." Knick glared at the unhelpful item as if it were to blame for his situation. Heading towards the stairs again he was stopped by the loud sound of a crash upstairs.

"That didn't sound good." Knick Knack looked upstairs with anticipation. After everything he'd seen so far he half expected something to come down from the source of the loud noise to terrorize him further. After a few soundless minutes, Knick worked up the courage to step towards his room again, quietly climbing the stairs just in case whatever made that noise was still around. He tip-hooved towards his bedroom door, trying to peek in through the doorway but unable to see anything or anypony moving. With a deep breath Knick managed to proceed inside, then he found himself looking around frantically for the source of the crash, but he did not see any damage. "I didn't just dream that up right? I mean... I know I heard something!" No response. He didn't know if that was reassuring or not. Proceeding further Knick inspected his bedroom, but everything was just as plain as when he woke up. He was about to head downstairs again to see if he could find something to rip out those boards or chains with when he heard the sound of wind.

"That's odd, I didn't leave any windows open." Not that it mattered, further inspection showed that they were boarded up here as well, the slivers between the wood showing more foggy sky with the faintest of day light behind it. Closing his eyes Knick proceeded towards the noise, which crazily enough was leading him to his bathroom. He walked blind until he was positive there had to be something before him and looked forward to see.

"That... that isn't possible!" A hole... not just any hole. It was big enough for a Pony to crawl through, it's dark interior suggesting it could go for quite a distance. The wind on the other side confirming for him that there must be another side to it like it was a tunnel. But strangest of all, it was in his bathroom wall and extending out into nothing, which shouldn't be possible. "This can't be right!" Knick ran out of the room and out his bedroom door onto the balcony that lead down stairs. He looked past the balcony railing at the wall where the hole should have been coming out of, but there was no damage to the opposite side of where the bathroom would be. Slowly heading back to his bathroom, he peered into the depths of the hole in the wall, listening to the sound of air passing. The sound of escape from this place. 

**********

Tossing the saddle bag over his side Knick Knack began rooting through the store to see if he could find anything of use. Sadly anything along the lines of tools or equipment was either missing or rusted beyond use. It was a miracle his saddle bag had remained in one place. The kitchen had been just as unhelpful, nearly all of his food supplies gone and the only items even available were some chocolate milk in the fridge along with a bottle of rice wine he'd imported some time ago and planned on sharing with Annie. 

"Annie..." Knick sighed, having forgotten that he was originally going to see her in his panic. "Annie... wait for me." He nodded to himself. He didn't know where that hole would lead, but it was out of here. And if whatever was happening here was happening in the rest of Ponyville, Knick Knack had no time to spare in locating his friends. Tossing the chocolate milk into his saddlebag, Knick proceeded back towards the stairs but stopped suddenly. "Oh yeah... you." He walked towards the counter again looking at the steel pocket watch before him. He didn't know why but something about this watch seemed different from the rest of the building. He lifted it once more with his hoof, depressing the button again and finding just as much luck in opening the face plate. Giving it a glare he tossed it into his saddle bag and proceeded up the steps. 

Once back in the bathroom, Knick noted the only thing keeping him from getting through the hole was a pipe that had probably gone to the sink before but now looked ruined beyond repair, no water running from its openings. Wrapping his hooves around the pipe he was able to pull it from the wall with one quick tug as it dropped onto the tile with a metallic ring. "Easy part's over." He commented and looked back at the hole, listening to the air again and working up the courage now that he was before his mystery exit. Knick took two steps towards the wall and was going to enter before looking back down at that pipe. 

Opening up the medicine cabinet he found a roll of bandages that looked fairly clean and unaffected by whatever had ruined the rest of the building. Knick propped up the pipe and wrapped one end completely with the medical bandages and tape, giving it a clean grip. Hoisting it up with his mouth he moved his neck back and forth to see how much momentum he'd get. Satisfied it seemed fairly threatening he craned his head back and slid it under his saddle bag against his back like a sword. "Heh, I'm willing to bet Spring Shade would make fun of me for this. But I'm not exactly the fighting type to begin with." Not many ponies were, and Knick Knack felt a little silly making himself a weapon in the first place. But where ever he was going he wanted to be sure he was prepared for anything, even if...

"No time to worry about that. You find a problem, just deal with it." He nodded to himself and put his hooves up against the hole, hoping it was big enough to allow him through with all of his gear. "Wait for me Annie." With a hard tug Knick Knack pulled himself into the hole's depths, and slowly crawled away from the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

As the waking world began to invade upon Knick during his slumber he began to question as he laid still if everything he's been experiencing the past few days had all been a bad dream. But as sleep drifted farther away, reality was sinking in and Knick was becoming aware without opening his eyes that something was already very wrong. Most obvious the feel of his skin as he laid upon a hard wooden surface, nothing like his mattress back home or Dreamer Dusts' couch. The air around him was heavy, almost musky and he could hear water dripping some where far away. Opening his eyes slowly he rose from his resting place to see not his home or his bathroom but some place far different. 

It was a train car. The wooden boards his body was laying on belonged to the floor of the passenger car he was in, which seemed to have been in a serious state of disrepair. The seats were old and the cloth torn and moldy. The floor he was on was stained with filth and the entire car looked as if it had not been maintained in years. With a groan the stallion rose onto his hooves and shook his head lightly. "Where... where am I? Wait! That hole..." He looked around himself but couldn't find the entrance he'd climbed into to get here. All around him was just the train's passenger car. A roof covered the car from above and on all sides were benches for ponies to rest their bodies upon. Before him was an open door, the direction he'd been facing when he awoke. So behind him naturally must have been the hole he'd crawled through. 

Turning slowly and letting his eyes adjust from his sleep he was able to make out the shadowy shapes around him. The moon light was full and radiant and the areas where the windows let it shine gave everything a mystic, eerie glow. Unfortunately the windows were not very abundant, and the fog he could see outside the glass further obscured the light. He was left alone in the dark and starting to regret the path he'd taken. Walking forward, Knick found a closed door undoubtedly leading back farther along the train to it's caboose. It was shut, and no matter how he pulled at it with his hooves or teeth he couldn't get it to budge. "Locked. Just great." He grumbled and shook his head a bit more. "So then how did I get here!?" 

It was the most illogical thing yet of everything that had occurred. Even with the terrible nightmares, the strange circumstances leading to his friend having to cast a spell on him, waking up in an alternate version of his own house AND an impossible hole appearing in his bathroom. None of those were quite as odd as the situation he found himself in now. What train was this? How did he get to a vehicle from a home by a connected hole, and then pass out part way through? Maybe someone knocked him out and dragged him here? If so, thankfully they hadn't taken any of his belongings as his saddle bag was still strapped to his body. Complete with his makeshift weapon of the metal pipe. He should have found a lantern in his shop though, it was far too dark. "Guess it doesn't matter now." He sighed and proceeded forward, the only option really left for him to do.

Wandering forward with careful steps through the dark and dimly lit passenger cars by the moonlight from the windows it was here that Knick was starting to notice all of the train cars were in just as bad of condition. The whole train looked as if it had been abandoned and he was confused where he would have ended up that they'd leave an entire train like this. Where was the train located at anyway? He was wondering if there was a point to exploring this vehicle until he came to the fourth coach-class passenger car from his original location and saw a sliver of light by the wall. It was a door. 

He looked at it relieved, the passenger cars up until now had coverings around each conjoined area to protect the guests as they moved from one passenger car to the next. Here was an actual exit he could fit his body through, the windows having been too small. Bracing himself against the handle he pushed hard and was happy to feel the door slide open all the way and let light spill in. Stepping to the edge, Knick craned his head around in different directions. "Fog's really thick," he said. Seemed that whatever odd weather had plagued Ponyville was also at work here. He didn't know if that meant he was close to his home but was hopeful. It was the best opportunity thus far and he had to try and find everypony. Sticking his neck out further into the fog he was able to see another set of train tracks beside the one his current train sat on. So it wasn't just an abandoned train in the middle of nowhere. This was a train yard, which meant there had to be a station nearby. And with any luck, other ponies. 

Knick was just about to hop off the train when he heard a sound. Perking his ears up, he realized it was coming from back inside the train. Knick stepped closer towards the end of the passenger car and heard what sounded like female whimpering. It was faint but there was definitely something there. "Hello?" Knick called out ahead of himself. "Is someone else here?" No response but the whimpering didn't cease. Curious now that someone besides him may have ended up in this crazy world Knick proceeded further into the train. He didn't bother to close the door to the outside. 

Heading deeper inside Knick heard the faint cries growing louder with his approach. "Hello? If you're afraid please don't be. I don't know where I am." He looked around himself to see that the passenger cars before the one with the door must have been first-class, the ones he woke up in having been coach. Instead of the open benches for ponies to lay upon there were sliding doors that lead to private quarters for individuals. If the walls hadn't been receding from mildew and damage he was willing to bet this had been a pretty classy train. "Are you hurt?" 

"They're real." 

A voice! A female voice. It sounded like a filly from what he could tell. He stepped faster sure that one of the private quarters in this car had been the source it had come from. "Hello? I'm trapped out here." He was listening closely to each door now to see if it was the one that the voice was behind.

"They're real, I've seen them." 

The same voice again. It sounded afraid somehow. Knick was pushing open the cabin doors finding no one behind each, the small windows they had giving even less light to the hallway than the other passenger cars. There were two small sky lights to provided him just enough vision to see where he was going. "Please come out, I don't know what's going on around here." He was getting frustrated and worried all at once, the lack of response was unnerving him. 

"They have long claws for gripping onto ponies, and pulling them into their dens. And large eyes for finding them in the dark." 

He followed her voice this time to one of the private quarters that was near the exit to the next passenger car ahead. Knick tried pushing it open right away but it was either locked or stuck on something. "Hey! Hey, open the door! I'm not going to hurt you." There was a buzzing in Knick's ear that was agitating him further now that he'd found the pony he was searching for but couldn't get to her. "Hey, open the door up!" 

"So please... don't leave me." 

"No one's leaving, just open the..." He fell forward onto his hooves as his pushing finally got the door to slide aside and create an opening. "...Door." He felt like a dork making his entrance this way but at least he was inside and now he could help whom ever was lost here with him. "Sorry about that I just... couldn't find you." The room was empty. There wasn't a single pony in sight. Not a filly, not a mare, nothing. It didn't look like anypony had been inside of the room either in some time. Everything was as run down as the rest of this dump. Knick grumbled to himself as he walked into the private guest quarters, wondering if maybe the filly who had been talking was hiding from him. But if that's the case why had she asked him to stay? Her voice had been so sad... almost pleading. It pulled at his heart and maybe he could have felt better if not for that annoying buzzing in his head. Just a second, that wasn't coming from his head. It was coming from his bag.

Knick flipped one of the flaps on his saddle bags and looked inside. It wasn't his head that had been making the noise this whole time, it was that pocket watch from the shop counter. Now the thing decided to start working. Maybe the noise had scared the filly away into hiding. Knick pulled it out and looked it over in his hoof, pressing on the button on top of the watch but the face covering still wouldn't open. He twisted the knob and fiddled with it further but the weird grinding noise that had been bothering him was just increasing in volume. Getting annoyed Knick turned toward the door way he'd come through to chuck the stupid thing out of the room and hopefully get rid of whatever was causing the other pony to hide from him. It was as he looked out into the hall of the passenger car that he stopped dead still. 

Only a few seconds had he seen it, but undeniably it was there. A figure had passed by the door, its shadow apparent in the small glimpses of light provided by the skylights atop the train. The moon light coming in just enough to make out the shapes around him. Knick had thought he'd be happy to see some movement but there was something... something wrong about what he'd seen. It was too tall, far too tall for a pony. The thing that had walked by the door had been what Knick could tell at least a foot of height over himself while he was on all fours. It wasn't just that though, it was the shape of that shadowed being. Whatever had walked by he was certain had moved on two legs. He didn't see the back side of the creature follow along past its head, sort of like some pony that had propped themselves up on their hind legs and staggered by. That was the most logical answer anyway, maybe a pony carrying something in its front hooves. But it felt and looked wrong. And it hadn't seen him.

Knick stood perfectly still like a statue as whatever it was walked by long past his line of sight and possibly to the next passenger car. As he listened for its movements the noise of the watch died down slowly and Knick was amazed whoever that had been had not heard it. Having nearly forgotten the filly he'd been searching for previously Knick slid the now quiet watch back into his saddle bag and waited until he was sure he heard nothing else moving. Taking a step forward his hoof collided with something and he cringed feeling the impact, afraid it would alert the figure. Nothing happened though, and while a bit tense Knick looked down to see what his hoof had nudged. Reaching down he picked up the small cylinder and held it up to try and make it out. 

After some examining he determined that this was the best find he'd come across so far. It was a candle, silver in color and oddly shiny as if the wax had been mixed with something to give it a reflective sheen. Regardless of its appearance it was a light source that he could use if he could locate some matches or a flame. However considering there were others in this train that Knick didn't fully come into contact with or know he decided that perhaps it was best to keep the candle aside and unlit for now. Keeping this in mind, Knick dropped the candle into his bag and stayed quiet. Lowering himself down he looked around to see if he could find the source of the filly's voice but there was no place that was practical to hide in the room. It was just two benches facing one another and a small area overhead for stowing away luggage. Not sure how she could have escaped Knick decided instead to look for more candles. 

While sifting quietly through the grimy items on the floor he found a paper that wasn't as filthy as everything else in the room. Knick tossed it into his bag as well deciding this wasn't the best place for reading and quietly walked his way out of the room. Looking the direction where the figure had gone he saw only darkness and heard nothing, feeling a small sense of relief. This could have been an over reaction, and maybe there was somepony in this place looking for another pony to help them escape. Maybe they knew where they were and could help get Knick home.

Maybe... but Knick still walked out of the train car as quickly and quietly as possible. 

Finding his way back to the door way that lead out into the fog filled train yard he stopped and realized something. "I let that thing in." It had to have come from outside. He'd been at the back of the train by himself, he walked from one end to the other and it came up from behind him. Whatever it was it had been outside. That meant there could be more outside. Or as Knick decided it meant it was now inside and could stay there. Hopping out of the train he closed the door behind him and hoped whatever that tall creature was wasn't clever enough to open doors. If it was then maybe that was a sign at least he'd found a reasonable being. "No time to worry about that now." 

Walking forward towards what he figured would be the train's engine he didn't make it farther than past the first coach passenger car before he was met with a dead end. A box car that would normally be used for moving supplies had been left on the tracks next to the train he was in, attempting to go around it provided him with yet another dead end as it was jammed too close to his original train and there was another full train on the opposite side on another set of tracks, this one running much longer and farther down. He sighed seeing he was boxed in here and turned around to the only path available. 

"This is so dumb." Knick thought to himself. What was the point of all of this? He'd crawled through that hole to get out of his house because he'd been trapped there, now he was stuck in a maze of trains and passenger cars? The situation had gone from unsettling to down right dangerous and he was out here in... where ever here was looking for clues to... who knew what. "Matter of fact lets get some ideas." He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out the paper he'd picked up in the first class cabin.

Travel Tracks Fillydelphia Railway Company

Travel Menu

Bran Muffin $5 Bits  
Daisy Sandwich $7 Bits  
Alfalfa Bowl $8 Bits  
Fruit Salad $10 Bits 

For the traveling individual with that  
special taste, please ask us about our  
Omnivore Special. $14 Bits

It was a menu. Apparently the railway had provided their guests with meals on their travels. The idea of finding some food stored away on these trains was appealing as Knick had confirmed there wasn't anything left back at his "home". However there was something on the menu that was more shocking then the possibility of something to eat.

"Fillydelphia... that can't be right." Everything that had happened so far seemed unbelievable to be sure. But the idea he'd crawled through a hole in his wall that had taken him to another city entirely was just too much. "How could I have traveled so far? This isn't possible." What's worse was this area was as covered with fog as Ponyville had been. How far had this spread? 

"Figure it out later." He reassured himself and continued through the fog filled tracks. He was starting to talk out loud a lot lately for some sort of sound that would ease him during all of this stress. He could have very easily panicked at any moment and while Knick Knack was a rather level headed and calm pony he wasn't above a freak out if it called for it. These trains were screaming for him to do so too, but he didn't plan to give it to them yet. Instead he trotted along and kept his eyes on the new set of train cars, finding an open door similar to the passenger car he'd hopped out of before. Since the previous train had only a set of dead ends and a possibly welcomed visitor it was only logical to try the next train over. Knick cautiously climbed inside and looked around, seeing a familiar setting in the dilapidated conditions of the coach passenger car and not much else to the train. Interestingly enough there was another open door directly across from the one he'd come in from. However it only opened to a boxcar on another set of tracks that blocked the path, nearly scraping against the train he was in currently. What was the logic of having them so close together? It just served as an obstacle. 

"Maybe that's the idea?" He grumbled to himself and looked between the two directions. The engine may have an escape route but if it was pressed against more trains like the rest of these cars then he doubted there would be an easy way out. Instead Knick decided to travel backwards to the caboose. There at least he hoped to find a door leading out the back. Knick's hooves tread carefully as he didn't want to trip on anything, the light inside this train even worse than the previous. Somehow the windows were grimier and the moon light couldn't shine its way through. There wasn't much need for maneuvering however as all the passenger doors between the cars were open and Knick eventually arrived at the back. "Great. Another dead end." 

He sighed and dropped down on his haunches, looking at the mess. If there was a door behind all of this he couldn't see it. The back of the train had all sorts of carts, chairs and trash just shoved against the wall. There was no way he could possibly move it all by himself and he wasn't sure the door would be unlocked anyway. Knick looked about dejectedly, upset that he'd wasted his time coming this direction. Still, he might as well explore and possibly find another candle for his travels. He hoped to come across something useful soon as his head was buzzing with another headache and a fruitless search wouldn't lessen it.

Sifting through the debris, there wasn't anything of much use except for one cart that appeared undisturbed. Curiously, Knick lifted the covering off the plate on top of the cart and discovered some old, dirty and dried out hay. He winced thinking it must have been used as a side dish for whatever meal the passengers would have ordered. He wasn't eating it now though in this condition no matter how hungry he was. Dropping the cover aside with a louder metal clang than he would have liked Knick searched further and found an interesting sliding panel at the base of the cart. Pushing it aside revealed a cold interior. "Hello... now this may be valuable." Reaching in with his hoof he pulled out a parcel that was wrapped in paper. It had a bit of weight to it and was cool to the touch. Knick figured it must have been something that was kept in cold storage to maintain its freshness. 

"Perhaps my luck is changing." He didn't know what the food item could be, but finding it in the magically charged freezer still intact was pretty shocking for this place. Considering it was kept cold, he determined it was probably some sort of fruit or delicate vegetable that had to be stored in such a way. Dropping the parcel in his bag he hoped the paper wrapping would keep any moisture from dripping onto the cloth inside. It was when he flipped the bag open to collect his new prize that he realized that it wasn't his head that was chipping away at him with that grinding noise, it was his pocket watch. Its gears were grinding in that annoying fashion again. That was when he remembered the last time it had happened.

He wasn't alone.

Jerking his head over to the doorway Knick saw the shadow looming at the entrance. Up close it seemed almost taller than he'd originally guessed, its body straight and unmoving. Something dangled at its side but he couldn't make out the shape of it, nor any of the details of the being that was watching him so closely. Through the unrelenting grinding noise of his watch; He could make out the sound of what seemed to be sharp, short breaths. Like the creature was constantly sucking small gulps of air in rapidly, breathing at a quick pace and sniffing all around it. Knick's body stood frozen, watching wide eyed and trying to adjust his eyes faster to the shape before him. Hoping beyond all hopes that what he was seeing was just a trick of the shadows or his eyes seeing what wasn't there from fatigue. 

Then it moved. Slowly, carefully it walked in on what Knick could see was two legs. Stepping forward and ducking slightly under the door frame the creature hoisted the dangling item at its side and now Knick could confirm that it was its hand attached to a disfigured, unnaturally long arm. Long fingers adorned a large claw that curled as it rose, the other side having a limb that seemed just slightly too short to be natural for its size. As it moved Knick felt a sense of fear at how alien the being was; it walked upright on its legs, not like a bear or one of those dogs around Ponyville that often leaned upwards onto their hind legs to stand, curling forward in a hunch. This creature's back was straight, upright and unlike anything Knick had seen before. He could feel his legs shaking beyond his control and he tried to rationalize with himself that maybe whatever it was happened to be lost here like himself. 

"He-hello." He spoke up, swallowing the lump in his throat and trying to fight the instinctual fear in his heart. "I'm... I'm sorry if I locked you in that train. I was just l-lost." Knick scolded himself, he was sounding like a coward! Stallion up. "Maybe... we can work together to..." He cut his sentence short when the creature reached out to him with its long hand. Perhaps it couldn't see very well in the dark and was searching for him by his voice. It wasn't moving especially fast and Knick rose up a hoof to meet its hand in a shake of a friendly greeting. 

They have long claws for gripping onto ponies, and pulling them into their dens. And large eyes for finding them in the dark. The words recited in his head suddenly. The voice he'd heard when inside the first train, from the filly that seemed to disappear when he'd searched for her. The creature's hand began to reach farther in towards Knick than the distance necessary to touch his hoof.

They're real.

Knick leaped backwards on his legs but it was a second too late, the long claws of the creature scraping against his shoulder and outstretched leg. He let out a surprised and painful cry feeling the claws pull at his skin. His eyes darted down to his leg to check the damage but it was near useless with the lack of light. He could feel something warm and wet and he was sure he was bleeding. He just didn't know how badly. There wasn't much time to ponder it as the creature was looking at its hand that had come back without a pony gripped inside. Then began to stagger forward and reach for him again. Knick wasn't attempting diplomacy any longer. "Get... get back!" He shouted trying to sound intimidating but it just came out scared. "Stay away from me! Get back!" He backed up on his legs, trying to keep the injured one raised off the ground. The creature didn't respond though, just staggering forward for him and still grasping eagerly in the air. The train car growing shorter with each step and that annoying watch grinding out its warning to Knick Knack that this was indeed real. Knick was pressed near to the back wall when he heard the metallic ting of something colliding with the it.

Of course! Craning his head back Knick pulled out the pipe he'd wrapped a grip around for his mouth, now wishing he'd kept those bandages for his leg instead. Sliding the pipe loose from the straps of his saddle bag he brandished it threateningly in his mouth at the creature. Making growling noises and trying to be intimidating. It didn't work, the monster still gaining ground on him. When the claw began to close in for a second time on his left side Knick's body shook and ran on instinct, swinging the pipe as hard as he could into the creature's arm. 

To his credit, it seemed to stop the monster for a moment, letting out a louder throaty moan when it was struck. However it didn't deter it from reaching for him still and Knick's adrenaline was kicking in. He swung the pipe at its outstretched claw, hitting it at least four times and knocking it against the caboose wall. Longing for escape he galloped forward towards the creature and craned his neck for another hard swing, this time into the monster's legs. It let out a sickening gurgle and fell to its side, Knick striking it once more to dissuade it from getting up. With it falling, he jumped over the monster's collapsed form and winced with the landing but ignored the pain, survival primary on his mind. Running to the caboose door Knick slammed it shut and backed up, dropping the pipe from his mouth with a clang. 

He stared at the door for a while waiting. In the silence as he watched for something to occur he noticed that his pocket watch had stopped with its insistent noise. Did he... kill it? Knick looked down at the pipe on the floor that had been his weapon and back again at the door. "I didn't really just kill something... right?" He hadn't hit it that hard he thought. At least not enough to take something's life, but the reality was he hadn't really been paying attention to all of that. His mind was screaming at him to survive and he'd done just that and didn't care of the consequences for reaching those ends. Knick had never even been in a violent altercation before, let alone fought something. The idea of taking a life with his own hooves was chilling. He considered leaving the pipe behind but with what just happened it would be foolish to abandon it. If nothing else at least that thing knew he was serious and may think twice about attacking him... if it still could that is.

He picked up the pipe and slid it carefully onto his back again, then proceeded towards the front of the train. The light from outside the sliding train door he'd come in from let him get a better look at his leg and he could see that it was gashed enough that he'd been bleeding. It seemed to be slowing down and he hoped that meant it wasn't very deep. He'd left all his bandages back at his house... or fake house. Or whatever was going on around here. "I still have no idea what I'm doing." Pressing forward he passed through the remaining passenger cars and as expected into first class again. Careful steps revealed no sounds, and all the doors were open with nothing of particular interest inside. He considered searching them for more of the shiny candles he'd found before but thought better of it. Staying mobile was more important now with his injury. 

He pressed all the way forward until he came to the front of the train which with everything that had happened so far he didn't really expect to see. The doors to the exit being blocked seemed more plausible but funny enough here he was at the train engine with the moonlight shining down. Knick inspected the train's controls and they looked as old and neglected as everything else but not damaged. Curiously he pushed at one of the levers but there wasn't a response. So much for a dramatic escape on a locomotive. Digging around further some movement caught his eyes and his head ducked down instinctively after the last encounter with something else that could move. Peering out the engineers window to the train that was pulled up directly against the train he was in now he could see through one of the filthy windows. There was a light inside and the shadows of something inside moving about. The light flickered suggesting a candle like he'd found earlier and further suggesting the filly he'd been looking for when he discovered the silvery piece of wax. If not her, at least somepony intelligent enough to light a flame. 

He had to get over to that third train he'd now discovered. Finding somepony else in this crazy place would be reassuring to say the least. But with the second train's current position he couldn't find a way to get there. Perhaps he could try to climb onto the roof, but with his leg gashed he didn't know if that would be plausible. Thankfully the box car that had sat between his first train and this one wasn't connected to anything, so it allowed him to exit the engine on his right side. Stepping down he could see the box car that had prevented him from traveling to the front right away before, and in the opposite direction past the engine itself was... fog and dark. For as far as the eye could see fog and darkness. As if the train tracks lead off into nothing. He could try walking past the second train engine he'd come out of to get to the third one over, but something in his heart warned him not to venture out there. As if that blind space would swallow him whole. 

It was his ears next that gave him warning as the grating sound began to faintly grow from his saddle bag. Knick was catching on that the last two times he'd heard this one of those tall beasts had appeared and he was backing up from the front of the train quickly. Had it gotten up? Was it coming for him for revenge? Knick was watching the little door he'd hopped out of when he exited the engine carefully, and so didn't notice the sneaking clawed hand that gripped around his back left leg. 

Knick collided hard with the dirt and train tracks when he was pulled off his balance by the hand, letting out a surprised yelp and looking behind himself. From beneath the second train he'd just exited a long, outstretched arm had gripped around his back leg with a terrible strength. Following the arm he could see two large, black eyes over a muzzle like a bear or a dog's face, teeth exposed and arm pulling at his body to come closer. Knick's body shook with the realization it had caught him and he pulled at the rails along the train tracks to keep it from yanking him closer but it was just too strong. His grip loosening Knick turned his body and in a frantic shout began to beat his hoofs at the creatures face as it pulled him closer. It let out pitiful moans in protest but eventually succumbed to Knick's panicked strikes and loosened its grip. 

Once he was able to kick his leg free Knick, painfully and quickly pulled himself to his hooves and backed away as much as he could from his attacker. He looked at the monster startled by the sight, its black and unfeeling eyes gazing back at him. He'd never seen anything so seemingly devoid of intelligence and it was shaking his nerves harder than he expected. When it began to pull itself out further from beneath the tracks to pursue Knick fled immediately, running towards the dark fog. He didn't care anymore that it seemed foreboding, now more concerned with the apparent threat behind him. Knick however didn't even get past the engine before clumsily colliding with a lever, swinging it forward. He bounced back a little and coughed, feeling the wind get knocked out of him. Suddenly there was a loud metallic screech and he knew it was too great to be his watch. 

The tracks had moved. When he'd hit the lever he changed the way the tracks had aligned, now instead of curving before the engine pushing straight forward. He hadn't noticed it before as he couldn't see it from his original vantage point and frankly it wouldn't have mattered anyway with the train being stuck in its position as it was. Or so he thought. 

Screeching to life the wheels on the train began to move forward, shattering the rust that had encased it for who knew how long. Slow at first but gradually picking up speed the train moved, with no sound of the engine ever coming to life. He'd gotten it to push forward by accident somehow. And that thing was still under there.

"The train's moving!" He shouted behind himself, surprised that he even cared. "The train's moving! You have to get out of there!" Maybe it was just in a pony's nature but he didn't want to see the monster die even if it had tried to drag him under to... well he didn't know what but it certainly seemed fearsome. But now it was powerless and Knick ran back to it just as the monster was pulling itself half way out from under the train car it had been hiding beneath. "You have to move or..." It was too late and Knick knew it. He turned his head away as a sickening crunch filled the train yard along with rapid, panicked gasps for air. As the second train moved further the crunching noises grew in intensity, and then began to stop. Once the sound of the wheels turning had died down Knick mustered the courage to look forward at his attacker.

It was gruesome. The wheels had severed its body in half, along with its arm that it must have reached back with after it had been crushed the first time to try and escape. Knick winced and fought off the urge to throw up what contents he had left in his stomach. He'd never seen something so bloody before. He'd read books with violence in them, heard stories of atrocities that had happened before but never bore witness. It was shocking. Above the creature's body, Knick saw the train had moved forward enough that he could access the original open passenger car on this side of the parked box car now. Peering through it the opened door on the opposite side lead into and open door to the third train he wanted to get to. Lucky... right?

"I'm sorry it came to this." He apologized to the beast that no longer moved, his silent pocket watch seeming to confirm it for him. Carefully stepping past the remains of the creature he climbed inside of the train car and proceeded across it to the next one.

This train was as expected the same as the others. Designed to carry passengers and in a total state of disrepair. Still he had a clear goal in mind and hoped when he got to it he could save a life rather than be partly responsible for taking it. "Or entirely responsible..." No, that kind of thinking wouldn't help him. Not in this insane place. He had to move forward. He had to get back to Ponyville. To Annie.

His back leg was throbbing but it didn't seem cut and he was hoping it was just sore from being rough housed so badly. A broken limb wouldn't do him any good right now. Walking towards the front of the new train he'd entered Knick only had a short ways to go before he found the light source he was after. On one of the benches in the coach class passenger car sat a lantern. Its flame was low as if it didn't have enough oil left to stay lit and it barely cast any visible light within the train car. Counting his good fortune Knick pulled out his silver candle he'd found earlier and lit it on the lantern's flame. Pulling it aside with his mouth he balanced it on his hoof and noted that even the light it gave off was oddly silver. Maybe it was magic? With any luck it wouldn't go out then. Taking careful steps on three legs at a time he shined the candle light about and noticed something very peculiar about the door leading to first class in this passenger car. "What... the hay?"

It was blue door with a gold, vine like trim around its frame. It wasn't that it just that it looked different though, it didn't look like it belong in a train at all. The door had a handle on the front that suggested something more like a door leading into a room in a house. Also it wasn't in the run down condition that the rest of the train appeared to be in, instead looking very clean and tidy. It was as if someone had jammed a doorway from a house into the side of the train and gotten it all to fit together. Knick approached it slowly, reaching out with his mouth to turn the handle. Then he heard the crying. 

To his side and huddled in a corner past the benches was a filly, a young one at that. The candle allowed him enough light to make out her body and her coat seemed matted and filthy as if she'd been in this place for a long time. Her body was shaking as she cried and Knick suddenly remembered that she was the reason he'd come all the way over here from three trains ago in the first place. Seeing her fragile state which after everything he'd seen he could relate to Knick carefully approached the girl. "Hey... are you hurt?" He asked cautiously but she didn't respond. "Listen, I'm not like those other animals out there. What's your name?" He hobbled closer to her and she turned slightly to face him. "My name's Knick Knack. I don't know how I got here but maybe we can help each other?" She stopped crying and let out a throaty moan as her body shifted his direction. Before he saw it he knew, the pocket watch's creaking from his bag unnecessary at this point. He knew, but it didn't help him deal with it any easier. 

"Where are her eyes!?" It was the first thought that ran across his mind. The filly's head turned and Knick was able to see now that the rough texture of her coat wasn't just mud and dirt. It was blood, the dark matted parts of her body areas where skin had been ripped off. He could have dealt with that though considering the creatures he'd seen, her being an apparent victim of this place the same as him. But it was her eyes; They were gone. Where they had been were two holes that were splattered with blood and her mouth ran with a black liquid. He barely noticed but it was apparent that she was a unicorn and her horn was broken off half way down. She let out a moan that was both high pitched and too deep for a filly to be able to make, turning her body around and falling onto all fours. 

Startled beyond thought Knick dropped the silver candle and it hit the ground, rolling towards the filly. When it came close to her she let out a shriek of surprise and began to climb up the wall of the train like a spider. Crying out at the sight of the silver light she pushed her head against the ceiling, her neck bending sickeningly against the surface before pushing through it and disappearing to the roof of the passenger car. Knick could see in the silver light that she'd actually gone through the roof without damaging it, like she faded through the solid surface. Like a gho...

"Do not finish that thought." No, he wasn't going to believe there were ghost fillies haunting an evil train in a fog filled, moon lit abandoned train yard from a magic hole in his fake house! He wasn't going to surrender his sanity that easily. But he also wasn't going to stick around to challenge it. With the candle seeming to keep that thing at bay Knick ran back as fast as his legs would allow and picked up the lantern with his mouth. Gripping it by the handle Knick walked out of the passenger car the way he came, not testing his luck with the odd blue door. Let it have its mysteries, he was done with this.

Gripping hard onto the sliding door between the two passenger cars he pulled it closed hoping that would keep that odd ghost-filly from following him. He breathed a bit harshly and listened, the creaking from his watch hadn't stopped and he didn't know what that meant but proceeded the opposite direction of the train car with the blue door. As he walked through the coach-class passenger car into the next that had the open door he'd originally used to enter the third train his watch suddenly rose with its grinding and he became aware it wasn't trying to tell him about the strange filly any longer.

Before him a large claw and arm drug a body into the passenger car. Knick's body froze wondering if the creature he'd accidentally killed earlier had survived being run over. He awaited the horrible sight of the torso of a monster being drug inside the train by its long claw but he was unusually relieved to see it had legs attached. Broken ones. Knick sat the lantern down on one of the benches. 

"You're from the other train!" It was the first monster he'd fought, apparently injured but still pulling itself towards him. "Listen I'm sorry about your friend but it was an accident. We don't have to be enemies." He tried to reason with the creature before him but it looked on with those same large, black eyes that only knew instinct and seemed to lack clarity. Knick backed up a little but he didn't want to run and let this thing chase him. "Please stop, we can work this out without fighting. Violence isn't necessary." Still it drug itself forward, propping itself up on its unusually long arm. Knick thought that perhaps he's finally reached out to one of these beings. Maybe it wouldn't be necessary to go through this nightmare anymore. Naturally he was surprised when the beast hurled itself forward off it's long arm, muzzle opened and gnashing as it flew at him. Knick leaped back in time despite his injuries before the creature could collide with him, mouth open and hungry. He quickly brandished his makeshift weapon from his back and held it threateningly hoping to remind the monster of what had occurred before. 

It didn't work. Propping itself up on its good leg it reached for him still with its hand. Knick fended it off with his pipe feeling the fear grip him again. "Stop it... stop it! Stop it!" He growled the words out through his mouth around the pipe, his neck swinging the weapon harder at the creature's arm. "Stop it stop it stop it!" The monster leaned forward and managed to clasp its fingers around Knick's back. He felt the pressure squeeze at his torso and knew there wasn't any way for him to break that grip. As it pulled him closer Knick shut his eyes tightly and jammed his pipe forward at the monster, feeling it collide with his target. After a moment the grip on his back slackened but Knick didn't stop, pushing the pipe forward further and driving it in despite the resistance against the tip. Before long, the noise in the train had died out. The watch no longer groaned out its warning; The monster's strange breaths no longer wheezing. Knick stood with weapon in mouth, scared to open his eyes. When he convinced himself to let go of the pipe it didn't fall from his teeth, instead wobbling in the air where he'd gripped it. 

He opened his eyes and looked forward and was able to see his handy work in the lantern's dim light. He'd driven the pipe directly into its throat, blood dripping from the open wound in its neck. Its hand rested on the pipe as if it had tried to pull it out at the end but was far too late with Knick's persistent pressure. Knick stared at the creature he had murdered for a while, amazed at what he'd done. He'd deliberately taken a life, something he'd never even known a pony to have done or be capable of before. 

Slowly grabbing the lantern in his mouth Knick walked on through the train, leaving the pipe behind in the body of the beast. He didn't want it anymore. Hobbling carefully Knick traveled all the way to the caboose of the train where he was met with an odd but familiar sight. A hole was in the back of the train, but it didn't lead outside into the train yard. Instead it was dark and deep, and surrounding the opening was a red circle with smaller circles and designs inside its boarder. Knick didn't know what those symbols meant, but the sound of air passing through told him it lead out of this place like the previous hole had lead out of his home. Without regret for his choice he climbed inside, and silently he prayed to any deity that would hear him for forgiveness for his violent actions.


	3. Chapter 3

Grey, it was more than just a color for him now. Grey seemed to be a fair description of his life since the nightmares began. His days had been a haze of washed out color, his coat had lost most of its sheen when he'd began losing sleep. Those early mornings that would bring light into his bedroom were little more than shades of grey through his drapes, closing another restless night. It had described the color and condition of his store after he'd woken up in that strange parallel version of it. The very sky and streets were grey with fog and cloud. So as his eyes slowly opened from the state between just asleep and nearly awake he swore his mind felt like a cloud of gray itself.

Afraid of what could be waiting for him this time Knick closed his eyes quickly once more and listened. There was no sound that indicated to him where exactly he might be and he noticed at least he was comfortable this time while he was laying down. Sure that there were no threats lingering about his immediate area, Knick finally moved his body to look about his surroundings and was surprised to find himself in the comfort of his room. No monsters, no train, no dreary moon lit train yard. Just him on top of his sheets similar to how he had first awakened in this awful place. The first thought that ran through his head was he must have dreamed the entire experience but it was short lived from the pain in his front left leg.

He looked down to see the long cut along his leg down to his hoof and recalled the creature that had given it to him. Also on his body he still wore his saddle bag and he presumed all his belongings must have been inside. Wait, if that were the case...

He bolted upright remembering the lamp he'd retrieved when he'd come through the hole in the train yard. The hole had been big enough to enter with it and walk uncomfortably but if it was still in the bed it could tip and catch the whole building on fire. While he wanted out of here he didn't want to risk being burned alive to do so. As he searched frantically he found that next to his bed, sitting safely on the ground was the lamp. Still lit and not at all knocked over. Like somepony had put it there purposely. Knick was beginning to get a bit freaked out.

"Who's there!?" He shouted at the room looking around himself. "Who keeps doing this to me!?" He'd fallen asleep at Dreamer Dust's and woken in a doppelganger version of his own home. He'd crawled through a hole in the wall and woken up in a train. Now he crawled through another and awoke back in the strange house? Placed comfortably on his bed with his belongings placed to his bed side with care? It didn't add up. Knick moved to get out of bed and let out a painful cry feeling his leg touch the ground. It throbbed with his cut. 

"I guess... I wont be getting any answers." He stated to himself dejectedly and limped over to the bathroom. That hole was still there, giving off the eerie but quiet sound of air passing through. Also it seemed as if it widened a bit. Knick looked around the hole's exterior, not noting and more extensive or fresh damage but it was certainly larger than before. Still it hadn't spread as far as his medicine cabinet and that's what mattered. Knick reached inside and found the remainder of his bandages. Through some careful work with his mouth and good hoof he managed to wrap it all the way along the length of his cut, using up what was left of the roll. It still hurt, but at least it wasn't exposed. 

Not wanting to rush off into danger again, if ever, Knick passed by the creepy hole and walked downstairs. He took careful steps but found with the leg bandaged up that it felt slightly better already. Weaving through his store shelves he came to the front door. "Yep... about what I expected." Still chained exactly as he'd left it. If the hole was still around he figured this would have been too. Heck there might have been more chains with the way things were progressing. He let out a sigh; no escape. "Might as well go through my spoils of war." 

Knick walked back through the shop to the kitchen, intent to see what he'd collected out of that freezer he'd found at the train yard. He'd called them spoils of war but really he didn't want to think along those lines. Or of anything that had happened back in that train yard. Ghost fillies and giant frightening dog creatures aside he'd done... terrible things. Killed creatures, living beings. One he could call an accident but the other he'd outright murdered. It bothered him to think of what he'd done in the heat of the moment and it being for self defense didn't make his heart settle any easier. Perhaps food would help though. 

Knick reached into the saddle bag and pulled out the paper wrapped food item and chocolate milk and placed them on the counter. He would have gotten some plates but he doubted that anything in this building was clean enough to eat off of. The paper alone would do just fine. "Now then, lets see what little gift was left for me. Hm? What is that?" As he pulled away the twine to unwrap the paper the smell caught his attention. It was different than what he'd expected; not fruit or vegetables or even oats. Maybe some kind of pastry? "This sure is the oddest cake I've ever..." As he looked at the item exposed it became clear what this was and why he didn't recognize it right away. Before him was a slab of red meat, in a large rectangular cut. Knick stepped back from it horrified at what he'd been carrying, nearly throwing up in his mouth but able to hold it down. "Why... why would the train... carry something like..." Omnivore special. "Oh Celestia, what was this animal?" He really didn't want to know the answer as he had a suspicion it may have been able to answer that question verbally when it was alive. There's no way they'd have the meat of...

"Calm down. Lots of intelligent creatures eat meat. Griffons, Dragons, Dogs." The last one made him a little upset but he wasn't sure why. Possibly due to the monsters he'd recently faced. "They wouldn't serve... they wouldn't serve that! It's got to be something else." He didn't know what kind of animal ponies would be okay with butchering and keeping for a few random guests but he was certain it wouldn't be other ponies... right? "Not eating this now, that's for sure." Knick prepared to toss it into the trash when it occurred to him that if he left it in the trash in the kitchen eventually it would rot and the smell would intensify throughout the house. He didn't know how much time had passed between his leaving the house the first time and coming back through that insane hole. He didn't want to risk it. 

Folding the paper back up while trying to avoid touching the meat as best he could Knick retied the twine and decided the best place to keep the disgusting thing would be his refrigerator. It was still working as evident of his milk and it was at least sealed if it did stop running, so the smell wouldn't drift through the whole house either way. Opening up the fridge he noticed the rice wine that he'd left behind and decided to take it out. "Might as well have something to dull the pain." Setting the bottle on the counter Knick put the slab of meat in the fridge and closed it, happy to have it out of his sight. 

Looking at the bottle Knick pondered where he'd be lucky enough to find a corkscrew to get the thing open. He was about to go rooting through the drawers when he heard the crinkling sound. Like somepony crushing a wad of paper under their hoof, only much louder and more dreadful. Knick slowly turned around to see the wall paper around his fridge which was previously just dirty was now peeling away at a rapid pace, as if it had been exposed to an intense fire. The refrigerator itself grew dreary and dingy, rust suddenly caking it's surface and growing yellow with age. The corruption spreading through his refrigerator covered the appliance entirely and seeped into the wall and ground it was attached to before finally stopping.

"What... the hay..." It didn't make any sense, not that anything had so far but this was just insane. His refrigerator had gone... evil? He didn't know what. As he turned to face the fridge and inspect it there was a sudden loud thump and Knick leaped up off his hooves and against the counter. The sound had startled him pretty good but he didn't see anything else happening. "That sounded like it came from the freezer." That didn't mean he had to open it! That was an idiot trap right there. Then again Knick hadn't checked the freezer previously, he had no idea what had been in it before the appliance had gone all rusty on him. Gulping down a lump in his throat Knick reached up and pulled at the freezer door, backing up quickly against the counter and bracing himself for something horrible to pop out. 

What he found was certainly illogical, but it didn't attack him. "A book?" After gathering his courage to peek inside he found the freezer had been empty except for a single book. The title on the cover read "The Kindness of a Mare." The words were written in a colorful pink and the cover itself was a buttery yellow. Knick looked it over confused endlessly by it's presence, wondering why in all of Equestria a book would have ended up inside the freezer? He flipped through the pages but there didn't appear to be anything special inside. "Why... why would a book... forget it. I don't care anymore." He shut the freezer door and gathered his wine and chocolate milk into his saddle bag, along with the book. He was already done with this, leaving the creepy fridge behind in his kitchen and heading into the main part of the store again.

Knick took a quick glance around the store before slowly walking upstairs, being mindful of everything around him now. He wasn't sure what had happened in the kitchen but it occurred after he put the meat in there. Maybe the meat itself was evil in some way? It certainly bothered him when he first got a whiff of it. Walking into his room he shut the door behind himself and sat on the bed. 

Knick pulled out the bottle of wine, not so interested in the chocolate milk anymore after what he'd seen downstairs. Seeing the cork was out enough to get a grip he clasped around it with his teeth and pulled until there was a satisfying pop. "Sorry Annie... I need this now for myself." He regretted not sharing the wine with his marefriend like he originally intended but he needed something to take the edge off. Drinking a bit of it directly from the bottle there was a burn as it went down his throat but it was satisfying. As if to inform him he was still alive. Maybe if he drank more regularly this would be relaxing but really it felt like something he was forcing himself into. Like numbing his senses would make this all feel better and easier. 

He was half way through the bottle before deciding he didn't want to be totally drunk, not to mention he didn't really feel like it was working anyway. There was a better use for the liquid and he'd been ignoring it till now. Holding the bottle with his mouth he tilted it over his wounded leg, letting it pour onto the bandages and seep through. After the wine covered his leg well enough he spit the bottle out and grit his teeth, wincing hard from the pain. He hoped it would work as a disinfectant, not sure what he may have been exposed to while in that train yard. "That reminds me." 

Sliding off his bed and grunting with the pressure to his leg he stared at the hole in his bathroom once more. Going through it the first time lead him into the caboose of a train in some foggy field. Going through another hole brought him here, presumably through this entrance again. Although it didn't account for him ending up on the bed asleep. Perhaps he was sleep walking or in a trance? 

"Doesn't really matter does it?" He sighed looking at the hole. "You're still my only way out." Using logic over fear Knick trotted carefully back into his bedroom and picked up the lantern with his mouth. He'd have to figure out a better way to carry it at some point. Walking to the hole he put the lantern inside and pushed it with his nose to give him enough room to crawl in as well. It would be slow going with the lantern but the careful pace and the light may actually help him see where he would end up this time. Or so he hoped. He was hoping for a lot of things right now.


	4. Chapter 4

Even expecting it the experience wasn't any less disorienting. Knick's eyes opened slowly and before he was aware of what was around him he knew that this wasn't his bed room. He was cold and on a hard surface, one made of tile instead of wooden floor of the train or his comforter back home. Also the room was dark save for the small amount of light coming from the lantern which was perfectly set near by, standing at the ready to depart. Knick laid still and listened but he didn't hear much of anything really. Wherever it was it was deathly quiet. When he was sure there were no beasts with giant claws waiting for him in the dark he began to rise to his hooves and assess the situation.

He was in a closet as far as he could tell or some sort of storage room. There were cleaning items, towels, mops, brooms and all the things a custodian would need. It looked professional and too out of place to belong to the train from the last time he went crawling through the horror hole. He walked back and forth a little and although his leg still ached his wound was bandaged, fairly clean and ready to go. Where to go was the question now.

There wasn't any holes in the walls around him but there was a plain door that probably lead out into what ever building he'd found himself in. Strange that the hole had taken him some place else besides the train yard. Maybe it was random where it dropped him? The thought gave him an idea and Knick picked up the lantern with his mouth, lifting it up as he searched the ceiling. Sure enough there was an open air duct that was just big enough to fit a pony through. He must have fallen out of there... and not hurt himself or broken his lantern. Yeah, that made sense.

Sighing Knick Knack walked forward and very carefully opened the door leading out of the room, grateful it wasn't locked or he'd been in an even worse place than before when he was trapped in his home. Peeking outside Knick looked down the hallways to see what exactly was around. The hall was fairly long and there were doors all along it leading both directions. Also on the walls were what appeared to be lockers and he wondered if maybe this was a school he'd fallen into. That would be good, schools were usually in populated areas and if he could find the exit he could get out of here and into the world for some help.

Knick proceeded carefully and closed the door behind him quietly. After those things he'd met the last time he'd left his house Knick wasn't in the mood to press his luck. Anything that wasn't a pony he'd hide from until he could find a safe way out of the building. To his left it looked like the hall way actually ended as there was a rusty old drinking fountain attached to the wall that blocked his travel. All that remained was to the right and so he proceeded with the lantern light kept low to try and not draw attention to himself.

Maybe this was all paranoia but the pain in his leg and his torso convinced him otherwise. Those creatures wanted to kill him, be it for food or pleasure or just that he was different they wanted him dead. There was no reason given but he knew another encounter could mean kill or be killed and he desperately didn't want to kill again or die. So he took careful, slow steps forward down the hallway.

For the longest time it seemed like he was going to encounter nothing at all and he was considering going into one of the class rooms to see if he could find a window to just climb out of. Knick approached a door and fiddled with the handle but it seemed to be locked. He could probably kick it open with his hind legs but the sound could attract unwanted attention. Speaking of sound were those hoof steps echoing through the hall after he stopped walking?

Knick swung his lantern around the hallway trying to pin down the noise. Walking forward a bit and turning the flame up in the lantern he let out a muffled and low "Whoa" at the sight before him. Panties! Not just panties mind you, but on the haunches of what looked like an attractive mare that was in front of him. Knick actually stopped for a moment to get a grasp on the situation and be sure he wasn't imagining things. Soon after though she moved away from him and her steps confirmed she was in fact a pony.

Knick blushed, he thought he might have found another Pony at some point while he was in the train but all he'd ever encountered were those monsters. Now there was some sexy mare in provocative clothing right in front of him. It looked like she had on a skirt as well and Knick was starting to wonder if it was some sort of school uniform. But even with uniforms school fillies never wore panties. Those kind of accessories were generally used to either hide something or bring a lot of attention to a certain area. She was starting to get away and Knick followed behind her to catch up, stopping once he heard a familiar grinding.

His watch, it was making that noise it made before when the dog creatures with the huge claws appeared. He swung the lantern around in different directions but there didn't appear to be any monsters on any side of him or behind him. That meant it had to be down the hall and he had to try and hurry to that pony before she got herself hurt. Knick began to trot a little bit faster but still doing his best to be quiet.

"heeefff!" He tried to call out to her with a 'Hey!' but the lantern just made it too hard to speak while he held it. "Heef! Yuff ovverrth der!" He grumbled as she didn't stop walking forward but the grinding was getting louder. Frustrated Knick just put the lantern down and tried to speak before she could get away. "Hey! Pssst! You in front of me." She stopped. "Oh thank Celestia." Knick picked up the lantern again and approached her, blushing over that she kept facing away from him and giving him a view of her back side. Couldn't she turn around at least? Once he was fairly close he put the lantern down again near by and looked around, the grinding noise as loud as he'd ever heard it back in the train yard.

"Listen, my name's Knick Knack and I'm lost here. Do you know your way around?" She turned her head to look back at him but didn't say anything, the shadow of her body keeping her face obscured from the light. "I'm not going to hurt you, but I think there are monsters out there." She started to turn and Knick cold have sworn he heard the grinding get louder. He began looking around frantically for where those dogs could be. Even looking at the ceiling with nothing shown. "We shouldn't be out in the open. Are you hurt, maybe we can help each other figure out what's... going... on."

Knick came face to face with her and not to be crude but she was a much better view from behind than in front. He stared for a moment trying to comprehend what he was looking at. It was a mare's face but it was... wrong. Incomplete. Her eyes were gone, not like that odd ghost unicorn at the train yard who's eyes were missing but the sockets were there. No this mare who also happened to be a unicorn just didn't have them. Knick just looked forward at the blank face, who's skin looked like it was some sort of wet horrible film pulled over where the face should have been. "Are you... are you okay?"

"Haaaaaggk..." It had a mouth and it was terrible. The blank faced filly opened her gaping maw and a black, vile substance dripped out it. She sounded like she was drowning, choking for breath but it was gurgled by the black filth. It was unlike the dogs that had sounded high pitched with their quick breaths as if they couldn't suck in enough to breath. Knick looked down where the venom had dripped and he noted by the lantern's light that it seemed to bubble and hiss at the tile. It was then he realized it was eating away at the floor. As she reared her head back Knick came to the realization this girl was no pony. He had to run.

Dipping his head down he moved past her and picked up the lantern, running to escape whatever she was. Her head snapped his direction as he did and she spit some of the black venom at him. He heard it slap against the lockers behind him and looked back to see what the damage was. Just like the floor the lockers were hissing as the bubbling substance tried to eat through the metal. If that hit his skin there was no recovering from it. Knick tried the closest door he could find but it was locked. She heard him rustling with the handle and reared her head back again. Knick moved in time to hear that venom slap against the door. She was trying to kill him.

Panicked Knick ran past her to the next door that was within eyesight, locked as well. He was becoming angered that all his points of possible exit were diminishing. Knick started towards the rest of the hallway but stopped when he thought he heard more hoof steps. Could there be more like her? Or another like him?

He heard the inhaling of her monstrous lungs and knew there wasn't any time to think it over. Out of hope Knick tried the next door he found in the hall and miraculously it opened. Pushing it open with his hooves he stumbled inside and flailed behind himself to close the door. As it clicked close he heard the sound of liquid slapping against the door and backed up from it. Watching for a while there was no sign of her acidic spit eating its way through the door, fortunate for him. The grinding of his watch had stopped as well. It seemed he was safe for the moment.

Knick took a second to catch his breath and consider what he'd just seen. It was a monster like at the train yard but it wasn't one of those dogs. Instead this one looked like a pony, and was even dressed in a school uniform. Why would it be wearing that? Was it trying to attract ponies like Knick to come up to it? Also he'd now seen another creature besides the dogs and that odd ghost. Would there be more terrible creatures out there?

He looked around the class room he'd taken refuge in and it was just as dark as the rest of the school. He was sure he'd be trapped in pure darkness had it not been for his lantern. It must have been why those vile mares had no eyes; no need for them in such a dark place. Knick walked towards the front of the classroom to look around, everything appearing in a state of decay and disuse like so much else he'd discovered. Except for one item that rested upon the teacher's desk.

"Nutrition drink?" Knick read the label after putting the lantern down on the desk. Funny how it had such a generic name. No brand or logo or even an indication who made it. Just the words written in black text across the bottle's label. Knick pulled the cork out of the bottle and sniffed it, noting the scent that reminded him of bitter medicine. "I suppose nutrition is one thing I really need." He hadn't found any solid food and the chocolate milk he was carrying wouldn't be very good energy to run on. Grabbing the bottle with his mouth he leaned back and swallowed the liquid. Sure enough it tasted like medicine mixed with berries to hide the flavor. After drinking the whole thing he set the bottle back down and gagged at the after taste. Somehow he did feel a little better for drinking it.

Making his way around the desk to see what may have been hidden behind it he bumped into something that collided with the ground, giving off a wooden sound as it hit. Pulling the lantern closer to the edge of the desk Knick saw it was a baseball bat. "Hey, I remember these." Knick hoisted the bat up with his hoof and propped it against the desk again. "Used to play this in school all the time. Wasn't any good at it. Heh... or... was I? Wait, I played baseball in school?" Knick stopped and stared at the bat, pondering his sudden outburst. It was like he was recalling some memory but Knick couldn't grasp it. In fact he was having a hard time remembering what sports he played as a child. "I... I played something in school right? It seems like it's really familiar." He looked the bat over, it had a grip for earth ponies to sink their teeth into and swing with their heads. The unicorns just used their magic so the mouth grip was only necessary for pegasus and earth ponies. But Knick had a different way of playing.

Turning around he wrapped his tail around the handle and yanked up, the bat swinging into the air and landing comfortably on his back. It was a talent few earth ponies practiced on a regular basis but you could get pretty versatile with your tail if you tried your luck at it. He swung the bat back and forth with momentum to see if he could get a good swing with it. "Well, seems I got some skill using this at least." He noted proud of himself, still not sure where he ever learned to handle this particular piece of sports equipment like that. "Guess if I want to play a game with Annie and everyone else when I finally get home I know I got a chance to win. Got a nice swing for hitting a ball. Or... something else."

The dark thought crossed his mind and he was trying to reject it right away. "I'm not... I'm not a killer." No, he wasn't. But his life was very clearly in danger. That vile mare out there was going to kill him. "She'll only attack if she hears me. If I'm quiet she'll never know." But what if he can't be quiet? What if there's more. A weapon to protect himself was a good idea. "I don't want to fight anymore!" It isn't fighting, it's just self defense. Knick had a reason to live and ponies he cared for. He deserved to fight for that. "Nothing... nothing deserves to be murdered. I'm not a killer." No, he wasn't a killer. But he was a stallion that had to make a choice. Try his best to live, or die struggling.

Knick kept his tail curled around the baseball bat, walking over to pick up the lantern with his mouth. He'd keep the bat just in case. To scare off predators that came after him if it came down to it. He wasn't a killer. But protecting yourself wasn't the same as killing for the fun of it. This was something he had to do.

Walking back to the door Knick pushed it open slowly and he was thankful it didn't make a creak as it did, small miracles a blessing in this place. Once he was out of the class room his watch began with its grinding noise again, alerting him to her presence somewhere in the hall way. He turned the lamp light low again not sure how sensitive that creature would be to the heat. He craned his head around to see where she'd gone to, noting the melted spots on the wall and floor where she'd spit and dripped her venom. Turning his head to look down the hall in the original direction he was going he saw her. She was just standing there, perfectly still. Probably trying to listen for him was Knick's guess but it wasn't like he could apply common sense to anything in this nightmare world.

Knick decided to try his luck and began walking down the hall. He took his steps slowly and careful, trying not to make any noise for her to react. The hall wasn't especially large, only about four ponies wide and she was nearly in the middle of it. He did his best not to touch her as he passed by, listening as well and hearing her gurgled breathing through the black bile that dripped from her mouth. It was a chore through the increased noise of his watch and he was beginning to grow irritated with the thing. He was aware he was in danger already, no need to keep reminding him! Looking at her he wondered if at some point she'd been alive? Was this what happened to you if you died here?

Knick was nearly passed her when she suddenly inhaled and raised her head, Knick stopping in his tracks near her. Had she heard him? Smelled him? Felt the heat of the lamp? He wasn't sure but knew the danger was real as she moved her head around trying to listen to him more closely, breathing harder and drowning out Knick's own light breaths. While she searched the pocket watch continued its grinding at him insistently and he did his best to ignore the racket that apparently only he could hear. He remained motionless for what felt like an eternity before the vile mare's breath began to slow, lower, and eventually fade from it's excited state. The creature lowered its head in disappointment, somehow he'd avoided detection. He'd avoided death.

In that moment after his brush with danger Knick's mind felt detached, his hind legs kicked themselves up off the ground, his tail raised the bat into the air, and his body brought the bat down with a terrible momentum. As the bat swung down it brutally struck the vile mare across her skull.

She shrieked as she fell to the floor, not the cry of attack or hiss as she readied to exhale her venom onto him but a shriek of pain. Knick looked back just enough to see her body staggering behind him and he swung his tail up, bringing it down across her head again. Another shriek, confused and in pain as she clearly didn't know where the attacks were coming from. She was raising her head to spit blindly out at the hallway and Knick raised his tail and kicked his legs up again, bringing the bat down onto the base of her skull with a sickening thud. She collapsed shortly after.

When her body fell to the floor Knick turned around quickly to look at what he'd done. His heart was pounding and he was trying to catch his breath as the adrenaline ran through his body. Why had he attacked? He was going to get away, she hadn't noticed him. But still when her guard dropped something in his body informed him that now was the time to strike and he obeyed that command. Now the vile mare laid on the ground before him, blood oozing from lacerations on her head and her horn broken off from one of his strikes to her face. The venom was pooling from her mouth but somehow she was still alive. In pain and gagging but alive. "I'm... I'm sorry." Knick pressed his hoof against her throat and applied a powerful amount of pressure.

The watch stopped its grinding. She wasn't alive anymore.

Knick stared at the body on the floor that may have once been a pony, and was surprised at how little he felt. Shouldn't he have been more horrified? Shouldn't he care more than this? As he looked down at the quiet form before him he sighed, and turned away down the hall again leaving it behind.

After the encounter with the vile mare he was sure there would have been more like the dogs at the train yard but for the moment things had been calm, the pocket watch silent. He was forced to come up with an alternative route when he reached a blockaded part of the hall way however. "How the heck did they do this?" Desks were stacked in the hall, but not in any manner that made sense. They were pushed against each other in such a way that the pressure applied between the floor and the ceiling was holding them together like a wall. Knick considered trying to kick it over but the effort may attract more monsters. There was only one door that was near the blockade and Knick chose it.

Heading inside he found it was yet another classroom and this one looked larger than the last. His attention was immediately drawn to four desks that had all been turned towards each other Curious Knick walked over there first to find an elaborate set up put on top of the desks. "No way... it can't be... " He looked on in shock at the sight before him. "Lasers and Laboratories?"

It was true, amazingly, unbelievably the desk was set up for a game of Lasers and Laboratories. That role playing game that the nerdy colts generally played with each other to live out the fantasy of being a science powered fighter, doctor or engineer. He had a copy of it in his own store and had always been mildly curious about opening it up to see what it was like but never had done so. Seeing it before him now was oddly exciting. "Look at the detail in all of this. It's like someone was just playing with it." Funny enough it was in good condition compared to the rest of the school. Knick turned the lantern light up and noticed something reflective in the center of the board game. When he got closer he found that he recognized it.

"One of those silver candles." Knick picked the candle up in his hoof and looked it over, it was the same kind he'd found in the train yard where he'd heard that filly's voice. And the same kind he'd lost when he'd met that ghostly looking unicorn and discovered the lamp. Feeling it was somehow important Knick put it into his saddle bag, thinking he may need it later. He moved around to behind the card board screen where the Laboratory Directory would sit, or the LD, the pony that ran the game for the other players. Usually here you'd find all the notes and references to play as Knick understood it. Funny enough there were no game notes but there was an unusual collection of items.

"An abacus?" Knick propped it up with his hoof and looked it over. It made sense for as far as he knew the LD would need to be able to do quick math on the fly but he was just surprised to see it. Also behind the screen was a pair of dice and a small paper. The dice were a twenty sided one and a six sided dice, reading sixteen and five respectively. The paper was especially interesting as Knick read what was written on it.

As they traveled they felt the danger upon them. As they battled the two fell bravely. The one hid away, surviving the brutality. Crying out to her for his salvation. The mare in the moon.

"Was this for their game?" Knick read the words repeatedly but it didn't make any sense to him. Inspecting the rest of the desk he saw before each player's seat was dice already rolled. One other player had a twenty sided dice and six sided as well, his reading nine and five. On the opposite side of that seat another player had two six sided dice reading six and six together. Who ever was opposite of the LD must have been an unlucky pony as they only had one six sided dice, and it read one as its number.

Knick didn't see anything else of value besides the candle and the abacus, and feeling a strange compulsion decided to take it with him. Its cleaner appearance feeling like a clue as to its importance. His saddle bags were getting heavy and he decided he'd have to be careful if there was anything else he found that he wanted to take. "Shouldn't have let myself get distracted for so long." Remembering the task at hand Knick picked the lantern up with his mouth and walked to the front of the room, making out the outline of a door. Pleased to see a method of escape Knick walked towards the front of the class. He was about to exit when another paper caught his eye.

There was a note book laying out on one of the desks. It was smudged badly and dirty like everything else but he was able to make out what was written clearly enough.

That bully Sledge Hammer took my lunch again. I told the teacher about it but she said since she didn't see anything then she couldn't punish him. But she never sees it because he always makes sure to take it from me when she's not around. I hate this school. I really wanted that chocolate milk too.

"Strange coincidence." Knick said aloud thinking of the bottle of chocolate milk he still had in his saddle bag. He forgot about it quickly, a colt pining for his lost milk didn't really match up with his current problems. Knick lowered the light on his lantern and opened the door to the hallway passed the wall of desks.

Almost immediately his watch began to grind at him in warning and Knick turned fast to see two more figures standing in the hall. More just like that same venom spitting mare he'd fought previously. One was facing away showing her more attractive side off and the other was facing directly at him. Knick decided to leave the door open to the other room and lightly stepped away from it, letting it swing closed on its own. When the door finally swung to a shut it clicked and both mares looked its direction immediately.

Perhaps it was due to him trying to think about this as a way to solve a problem but Knick was starting to find ways to set his fear aside now. He was still frightened terribly, and knew these creatures could kill him so much more easily than the previous monsters he fought. Their acid like saliva something he was sure he wouldn't be able to walk off. His tail coiled tightly around the now blood stained baseball bat and he watched carefully as the two mares took awkward steps towards the door. They were trying to find him and he didn't intend to let them.

Not daring to try and fight two at once Knick began to walk away in slow steps, feeling a bit more confident now that he was learning how to survive this horrid place. The mares were standing near the door now, one in front of the other and keeping her from being able to get around. He looked back smugly at the two confused creatures pleased in his accomplishment. Knick would blame himself later for what came next though as he felt something soft collide with the side of his head.

If his heart hadn't been pumping so hard he might have laughed. The pony shaped monster looked behind itself after Knick collided with its rear. There wasn't any hiding himself anymore, her mouth opening in the lamp light to reveal the fresh venom dripping out. Knick's body thankfully worked faster than his mind as he swung his rear legs towards the vile mare, she turning her head to unleash her poison. Knick's tail gave him slightly more reach and he closed the gap quickly, swinging upward into her jaw. She let out a screech through her teeth and spit her venom into the air. As the monster stumbled aside from the strike Knick winced feeling the drops fall upon his skin. He let out a groan of pain himself from the tiny drops burning at his flesh but there wasn't time. Her friends would hear.

Taking to his hooves Knick knocked the mare over and ran down the hallway, the sound of venom being spit behind him but he didn't dare turn his head to look back. His legs carrying him faster through the school until he discovered two double doors before him. He had no idea where they lead but it was away from his hunters and that was enough motivation to push him forward. Screeching to a halt he slammed his hoof onto the door handle and collapsed through the entry. Using his back legs he pushed the door closed and heard the satisfying click as it latched shut. The pocket watch had stopped its grinding, the sound of the venom hitting the tile had ceased. There was only his own breathing. Was he safe?

Knick got to his hooves from his side and groaned as the pain caught up to him. His bandaged leg felt like it was on fire in pain and he was scared he was literally burning from the drops of that mare's acid. He needed to get a better look at himself. Lifting the lantern he saw that he'd made it into the cafeteria, rows of similar tables lining the large room. The room had the look of decay about it as was standard by now but there was no sign of movement or sound of threats looming in the darkness. Setting the lantern on one of the tables he took a moment to examine himself.

His leg wasn't bleeding, thankfully. He was sure he'd have opened the wound but it looked like he'd been lucky. Looking over his torso he saw small black spots on his orange coat and swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn't know how bad it was, maybe it just burned the surface of his skin but was it poisonous? Would it eat him from the inside? He was getting scared considering all the possibilities and decided to just deal with it if it came up. Maybe he'd find some medicine like that odd drink earlier in the class room. It was a cafeteria after all.

Knick traveled between the rows of tables and benches for ponies to rest on, hoping to find the entrance to where the food was kept. Instead he saw an interesting shadow a few tables away; the shape of a pony sitting with his head on the table. Knick watched and listened for some time but he didn't hear any breathing or see any movement from the pony, neither did his pocket watch make that noise when they were close by. Even though it hadn't worked in his favor lately he decided to go investigate.

Knick made sure that when he got close he was on the opposite side of the table, wanting something between him and whatever this might be. The closer he got he saw it looked like a unicorn colt, but his skin was dried and withered, his body thin. It wasn't like the vile mares in the hallway, this was a corpse. Knick set his lantern on the table and uncurled the tight hold his tail had on his bat, propping it up near by for easy reach. He settled himself onto the bench and looked at the figure before him closely. The unicorn had his front legs wrapped around what appeared to be a lunch box, and his head was resting on top of it. Knick wondered if maybe there was something actually edible in there and not just more frighting bits of meat like the last place.

"So... mind sharing that?" He had no idea what possessed him to talk to the dead body but he'd been alone for a while now and it felt nice to talk to anything. "I mean you just don't seem to need it in your current state so... sharing is caring." No response, naturally. Knick was trying to figure out how to pry the lunch box from the corpse when an idea occurred to him. "Hey, are you the colt that the bully kept taking his lunch? Um... well you liked chocolate milk right?" Knick reached into his bag and pulled out the bottle of chocolate milk out, setting it on the table between them. "There, I'll trade you for whatever you got. Deal?" He looked at the body across from himself and awaited for it to confirm his offer. Silence filled the cafeteria.

Knick was starting to feel stupid. Why did he think this was going to work in the first place? He looked at the unicorn corpse annoyed. "What, did you need me to take the cap off for you too?" He unscrewed the cap from the bottled and set it back down. "There, even opened it for you. Maybe show some appreciation now?" In that second the unicorn's head rose up, and lunged forward, its jaws snapping.

"Celestia's Beard!" Knick shouted in surprise loud enough to fill the whole cafeteria, falling backwards off the bench and onto the floor. Across from him the unicorn corpse did the same, the bottle of chocolate milk clutched firmly in its teeth and spilling onto its face as it laid on the ground. Knick rolled onto his side and winced at the pain of his skin from the burns he got earlier from those spitting unicorns in the hall. He rose up and saw the lunch box was now free to take. "Simple thank you would have been good enough." He pulled the lunch box to himself to see what his prize was.

Inside was a bag of what was listed as "Healthy Oats". Knick didn't care if they were healthy or junk food it looked like he'd finally found something he could eat. Remembering his experience from the last time he'd thought that Knick picked out the oats and put them into his saddle bag, planning to examine them later some place where he could see them clearly. Underneath the oats there was also a slip of paper and he pulled that out to observe as well.

"239... 12 - 6 - 10. Looks like a locker combination." It made sense compared to everything else he'd seen thus far and the fact he was in a school. He dropped the paper in his bag too now starting to notice the weight of it with his sore skin. He may have to unload some of these useless things at some point, it was hard enough carrying the lantern in his mouth and the bat with his tail. He wasn't really built for this much physical activity over this long a period.

Knick trotted away from the table and started searching for the exit that didn't lead back the way he came. It looked like there were doors leading outside but the windows over them were boarded up. There was another set of double doors opposite of that and he decided to inspect them next.

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we'd been closer?"

A voice! A female voice, it was coming from the doors. Knick approached quietly but as fast as he could to try and catch who it was.

"I suppose you're right. I mean... it was a silly question, sorry."

She was older than the girl he'd heard in the train yard. Probably about teenage years. He couldn't tell who she was talking to though.

"Goodbye..."

"Wait!" Knick pushed the doors open quickly to try and catch the only other intelligent voice he'd heard in this whole place but when he walked through there was just a darkened hall way. She could have hidden in any number of the class rooms that were stretching into the darkness. It was a hopeless search. Knick sighed through the lantern held in his mouth and just moved forward, now at least having a direction to travel. He moved the lantern back and forth to cast light in various directions, counting the locker numbers having remembered the slip of paper he'd found so recently. "235... 237... 239." He walked over to the locker and sure enough, there was a pad lock. In fact it was the only locker that had one at all. Setting the lantern down next to himself he got to work. "Easy enough to open." Knick pulled the lock up in his hoof and started to spin the dial in the necessary directions. He was starting to get the feeling something was wrong though.

He should have felt that for some time actually. It seemed like he was being herded along through this building. He generally only had one direction to go at any time and would stumble upon clues or items each time he went where it guided him. Was this some sort of set up? He started to look around for possible monsters or even ponies watching him but instead saw another familiar sight; a blue door.

It was just like the train yard, a blue door with fancy gold trim decoration around its boarder. Also like the train yard it looked as if somepony had forced it into the wall where it didn't belong, like they had cut a rectangular hole and shoved the door and its frame into it. Before at the train he hadn't had time to try and open the door, he wondered if he should now? But first to open the locker.

Entering the last number the lock came undone and Knick took it off, casting it aside as he didn't see a point in keeping a pad lock. He pulled on the latch and opened the locker door. He was expecting yet another clue to lead him along his set path but was shocked when he was greeted by a unicorn body falling out of the small space.

She collided with the ground as her body squeezed out of the locker. Wearing a uniform like the vile mares but it was less dirty and more faded. Her skin was stark white and her hair was dry and coarse as if she'd been in there for a very long time. Knick knelt down to inspect her further and saw that she wasn't moving at all, her body still as death and her eyes removed from their sockets. Just like the filly he'd encountered back at the train yard. "Oh... oh Celestia... what happened in this place?"

The sight of the school filly made a lot of the crushing feelings he'd been blocking come to the surface and he swallowed a lump in his throat looking at her. He hoped she hadn't suffered. He did notice that in her mane there was something metallic and shiny in the lantern light. Picking it up he saw it was a key for a house. Not wanting to leave anything that he may need to come back for he put it in his bag and bowed his head. "I'm sorry that I... that I can't bury you or take care of you. But I hope you're in a better place. You and the colt that gave me his lunch." He felt a little better saying something, and picking up the lantern he turned to head down the hall.

At that time his pocket watch began to make its grinding warning noise. She lifted her head when he turned his back on her, and cried out to him with hoof out stretched.

Seeing her body rise up from the ground Knick lost all strength in his legs and stood still, a feeling of dread in his heart. Even after all the other monsters he'd seen something about the school filly picking her dead form off the ground and levitating into the air shook him to his core. He watched her rise and float towards him, her front legs out stretched to embrace him. She moaned out and when her hoofs touched his skin he felt as if his life was being pulled out through them.

"N-no!" He swung his tail to strike her across the face with the baseball bat, colliding into her head with a dull thud but it didn't seem to really hurt her. She continued towards him and Knick swung the bat again and again to fend her off. Each strike thudded against her like if he was hitting a mattress that just absorbed the blows. When her legs felt as if she were about to pull him down he struck her hard with his hind legs in a kick and she dropped to the floor. Moaning and still reaching for him.

Knick escaped in the quickest manner he could, heading for the closest door to him which was now the one across the hall from the strange blue door. Mercifully it was unlocked and he entered the room, shutting the door behind him. When the door latched shut the watch faded and died down again into silence. Knick wasn't sure what she was but her very presence was terrifying, far beyond that of the monsters he'd seen before. He backed up from the door panting hard and tried to get control of himself. He'd wait until she went some place else and then make his escape.

Knick considered eating his oats now and walked to the front of the classroom to use the teacher's desk as a table. Setting the lantern down he let out a breath to control himself and searched the desk for a moment, seeing if he could locate anything useful like the other rooms. As he went through the drawers he stared to come to the realization that the chalk board on his right wasn't just dirtied and scratched like the rest of the room but that there were words written here. Pulling the lamp closer on the desk he read the words that were written over and over again across the board. "No-horn?"

It was everywhere on the chalkboard, written in different sizes and in different styles of writing in some cases. He was familiar with the term No-horn. It was an insult used for primarily earth ponies due to their lack of talents compared to unicorns and pegasi, usually given by mightier than thou types of unicorns. Directly in the middle of the board written in red chalk (he hoped it was chalk anyway) were the words GO BACK HOME.

"What in the world am I looking at?" He didn't know who could have put this here or why. Everything he'd seen so far had been a unicorn and could have written this, but not a single one of them had eyes. Or if they had eyes they were either gone or the owner was dead. "Is this a message for me?" It seemed just as likely as unlikely, he was the only earth pony in the whole building.

Knick's pondering was broken from the sound of his watch giving off warning and he turned to look about the classroom, trying to find the cause of the alarm. Picking up the lantern he moved it back and forth looking for any sort of odd creature in the dark. There was nothing passed where he'd been, but something was coming to him where he was.

Above himself the wall began to grow black and wet, the paint drying and cracking as it peeled away. The ghostly school filly was pushing her way through the wall, similar to how the young ghost filly from the train had pushed herself through the ceiling. As the wall grew a deeper black her body was shoving its way through more quickly. She'd be on him in seconds, he wasn't going to give her that chance. Running to the door way Knick let her push through the wall and collapse inside, hitting the ground with a thud that sent a shiver through him. Now inside the room Knick walked through the door to the hall way and closed it behind him. Maybe she could walk through walls, but it took her a while. He'd used that.

Stepping quickly down the hallway he moved forward looking to put as much distance between her and himself as he could. He could already hear her moans as she came through the wall again but he didn't look back. Instead pressing forward. The hall changed directions to his left and there were a pair of heavy doors before him with the faded words of Locker Room. Might as well give her another obstetrical.

Knick's watch was giving a slow grind to let him know the ghostly school filly was chasing him, and he pushed open the door planning to hide out in here until he could give her the slip again. He was startled when his watch screeched loudly in metallic noises, and his lantern shined on one of the vile mare's faces.

Several actually. Dozens... they were everywhere. The locker room was packed to the brim with them. Knick couldn't tell where they all stopped and began, but now many of them were looking his direction after the door opened. Realizing his mistake just in time Knick fell back and let the door close, the sound of the wet venom splashing against the walls and door repeatedly on the other side. Some oozed underneath the door and through the opening before he could close it all the way. He let out a shout as it caught him just underneath this left hoof and felt the stinging burn touch the soft skin around his hard under hoof. He backed up quickly and tried to rub it off onto the tile before it could cause any more damage.

He was breathing hard now and had to keep moving, she was still coming for him. Leaving the Locker Room full of vile mares behind him he started running down the rest of the hall, eventually ending in what looked like an office door. It was the only option left unless he ran back towards danger. As he got close he reached for the door but felt his heart sink at the sight of it.

Chains... just like his front door there were chains all across it. No, not exactly like his front door. These chains had pad locks across them and there were only about four chains in total. They were actually far apart enough he could probably squeeze through, and luck would have it the door opened inward towards the office. Desperately he tried the door handle with his hoof but of course it was locked. Frantically Knick began looking over the door for some way to get around this and noticed suddenly there was writing on it.

"(6 + ?) + (16 + ?) - (? + 9) x (?) = 19"

His jaw nearly dropped, almost losing the lantern in the process. A math equation, in a building full of horrors to reach safety? This place was beyond evil. He had no idea how he could even figure this out, except... "The abacus." He remembered thinking it seemed like it was important and that he should take it. Was this the reason why? It made sense and the pad locks looked like they were all resting on numbers already. He figured each of the four numbers would reveal the last number needed for the pad locks.

He could have figured it out if he had time for that sort of thing. Looking back he saw that not only was the floating ghost filly starting to figure out where he'd gone but one of the vile mares had wandered out of the locker room after he'd left the door open like an idiot. They seemed to be taking notice of each others' noises but weren't attacking. Maybe the recognized each other? "Doesn't matter, I have to go right now!" He didn't have time to do math, there was no way he could fend off all those monsters and this place wanted him to solve a puzzle. "Fine, I've got a solution."

Knick backed up towards the door and raised his hind quarters into the air, bringing the bat up and swing a powerful strike against the door handle. It snapped right off with a single blow and fell to the ground, the noise certainly gaining his hunters' attention. With the handle removed he bucked his back legs against the door. Each kick echoing through the halls. He pounded his hoofs against the door, feeling it start to buckle. "Come on!" He hit it over and over again, looking forward and seeing them coming for him. "Come on!" Just when it seemed hope would be lost he felt the door splinter and swing open from his kick, giving him access to the room.

After the door open there was a terrifying moment of uncertainty and Knick was left more confused than ever before. Something... howled. Or roared out through the school. It was an awful sound and it seemed to shake the walls of the building itself. So loud was it that the vile mares coming out of the locker room and even the ghost filly that had been reaching for him stopped moving. Everything seemed to stand still in that moment in time when even the monsters were holding their breath. Something horrible was coming, and even they were afraid.

Knick was snapped back to reality when there was a loud flash and boom like lighting before him. Down the hall something bright had struck one of the vile mares and knocked her body to the ground. The attack had left a hole in her neck and there was fire where her filthy school uniform had been. After the strike the ghost filly suddenly fled through the walls, pushing herself and fleeing the scene. There was another loud crack and bright flash as another of the vile mares dropped dead, her head had been severed from whatever struck it. Something was coming down the hall way and Knick didn't want to wait to see what it would be.

Pushing himself past the chains and wiggling his stuffed saddle bags as well through them he heard heavy steps behind him and it motivated him to move that much faster. Once he was through the chains he scrambled to shut the door behind him, although it wouldn't latch with the handle broke off. His pocket watch never stopped screeching at him about the danger. Knick looked around the room quickly and saw that there was one of the demon holes in the wall behind the desk of whoever had owned this office. There may have been more but his thoughts were clouded by the sudden explosion above him and bright flash that came with it.

He looked up to see a hole had been blasted through the door the same way it had cut through the monsters outside. This thing wouldn't be stopped and it was coming for him. Taking to his hooves Knick ran around the desk and climbed into the hole, not caring where it took him this time. He just knew he had to escape. As he walked into the hole and started to proceed into the darkness he looked back only once.

A single, huge emerald eye stared at him through the hole in the door. As he looked at it he knew that the monster had seen him just as he'd seen it. He ran that much faster into the depths of the tunnel because of it.


	5. Chapter 5

Knick raised his head from the wet pillow and rolled onto his side, looking at the boarded up window in his bedroom. He'd woken up in his bed some time ago but was unable to find the strength to stand, instead he'd taken to sobbing into his own pillow. After all of that; the fighting, the injuries, the terror and the confusion he just ended up back exactly where he'd started. He didn't understand the point or the reason, none of this made any sense. He just wanted to go home, to his real home. To his friends and to Annie. He didn't want to be here anymore. 

Slowly Knick pulled himself to his hooves, wincing when he felt a bit of pain as his right hoof hit the floor. From the venom he'd touched back in that strange dark school no doubt. As he got up and winced at the feeling of the saddle bag straps touching against his other burn wounds on his back Knick inspected the bedroom. The lantern was there on the floor just like before, so was the baseball bat. His saddle bags felt cluttered with things as well indicating nothing had been lost when he ran for his life from that... thing. 

Knick peeked his head into the bathroom to see that the hole in the wall was easily large enough for him to fit through now. The sink had fallen off onto the floor as the hole had cut into the ceramic that held it up. It wasn't that surprising since it had grown the other time he'd come back as well. He was starting to consider the possibility that the house was changing itself while he was gone. It wasn't a very comforting thought. 

Knick walked back to his bed and reached into his saddle bag, digging out the oats and setting the pouch on the covers. He untied it with his teeth and was relieved to see real, solid food that wasn't old or haunted. "Thank Celestia for small favors." He devoured it all quickly, maybe faster than he should have but at least there was something in his stomach now. Maybe he'd even find another one of those drinks somewhere. At least everything in this crazy world wasn't deadly. 

Knick left the baseball bat and lamp upstairs, he wouldn't need them immediately unless he ended up crawling through that hole again. Something he'd gladly avoid but knew deep in his gut he'd end up doing again, possibly forever. Who knew? 

Heading downstairs Knick stopped in the main part of the store and looked around, nothing really appearing different. The door was still chained, the shelves still had nothing good on them and he was without a doubt alone. "Time to drop the junk." Having considered this earlier in the scary schoolhouse Knick was starting to believe not everything he had held a purpose. Or at least it wasn't immediately obvious. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the abacus, the strange book from the freezer, the silver candle and the house key, setting them onto the store counter.

The book hadn't done him any good on his last trip and he was in a school for crying out loud. Although he'd found the book here in the store and not on the other side of the hole. Maybe he wasn't supposed to take it with him? But the chocolate milk had helped him in the cafeteria so he didn't know what he was basing this off of. The silver candle looked just like the previous one he'd found in the train yard but it hadn't been immediately useful either. That just left the abacus and the house key. Maybe the abacus was supposed to be useful earlier but he'd found a better solution with brute force over brains. The house key was clearly meant for something so Knick picked it up and tossed it into his bag. His back already feeling better from the relief of the extra weight. 

Realizing there wasn't any point in avoiding it Knick Knack started to trudge his way back towards the stairs when something caught his eye. On the far wall by the stairwell and storage room entrance there was a display of sorts. It was sitting on top of a small cabinet and it seemed to be education themed. There was a protractor, a math book, and a fancy writing quill. They were all dusty but looked as if they were part of a set. Hanging above the cabinet and display were some designer horseshoes but they didn't seem to have anything to do with the educational tools. He would have over looked all of this if it wasn't for an empty spot on the display that listed a price for an abacus. 

Knick looked back at the tool he'd picked up from the strange school and back at the display. It seemed way too obvious. It also reminded him of the last time when he'd set the meat inside of the refrigerator. Things had gotten strange shortly after, but the sales counter wasn't being affected so maybe it would be okay.

Knick walked to the items he'd left on the counter and picked up the abacus, then turned and headed back to the display. He sighed, looking around himself for anything unusual before setting the abacus down onto the display and backing up from the counter. It began to turn black. "Oh that's not good." 

The black filth didn't stop there, spreading to the whole cabinet and corrupting the other educational tools on display. "Oh this isn't good at all." Knick Knack backed up as he watched his cabinet become old and rotted, the wall behind it and the floor beneath becoming stained with something dark and sticky looking. The horseshoes rusting and growing dismal in color. "Well that's just great." Knick grumbled looking at the corrupted furniture. "I have to live here until I get out of this place you know. Do you think this is helping me deal with any of this every time you go all freaky on me?" Knick was glaring at the cabinet when it suddenly clicked like a lock had been undone. "Guess I made it feel sorry." 

Knick walked up and opened the cabinet doors beneath the display, noticing that there was something inside. Reaching in with his hoof he pulled out an orange book with the title written in red letters of "How to be True to the Pony Within". It was the exact same shape and size as the other book he'd found. The type face for the title was even similar. Taking the book back to the store counter Knick set it on top of "The Kindness of a Mare", looking at the two of them. Clearly they were important to something but he couldn't even begin to fathom as to what. "Forget it." Knick sighed and walked back up the stairs, now carrying only the house key from the items he'd brought back with him.

Upstairs again Knick took a second to look himself over. He was banged up worse than before now. Even with the bandages along his left leg having been pretty bad he was still managing. Now he had a burn on his right hoof and the burn spots on his back still stung at him. The oats made him feel better and more confident to face what was coming this time around. As he wrapped his tail around the baseball bat he looked at the red stains on it and remembered how he beat that vile mare to death with his weapon. Before when he fought the dogs he'd been forced to use the pipe, including the part where he killed the one dog to save his life. But in the school...

"I killed her of my own choice." Even saying it out loud didn't make him feel as horrible as that first time. He'd swung his weapon with the intent to murder the monster with the pleasant backside. Now he was sure that if it came to it he could do it again. "Is there something wrong with me?" He didn't feel upset at the thought of killing as much as he used to. He didn't enjoy it but the remorse was gone. Was this place doing something to him or was he just conditioning himself to the world around him. 

"If you think forever you wont get anywhere." Picking up the lantern Knick walked into the bathroom and crawled up into the hole. He hoped he could manage to stay awake this time but he didn't expect to. As long as he was safe when he awoke though he felt as though he could be okay. He could do this. He wouldn't let this place kill him.


	6. Chapter 6

He was adjusting to it now, waking up in some place that was unfamiliar to him. When he felt consciousness coming back the first thing he did was lay still and listen. Smelt the air around him, felt the ground beneath him. Twice now he'd woken up some place (relatively) safe but he wanted to be positive nothing was lurking in the dark for him. The first thing he noticed was it was slightly cold and the air felt crisp. Next was the feeling on his skin, like the earth was raised in some areas and not in others. Actually it was more like stone than earth or wood or any other surface he'd slept on so far. 

Knick came to the realization this was cobblestone, he must have been outside. Raising his head he opened his eyes and looked around seeing a dark, starless sky above him. Maybe he was outside but things still didn't look right. Coming to his feet he picked up his bat and lantern which were at the ready for him and observed his immediate area. Behind him the hole was there, with it's unusual markings around it in a circle as it sat in a brick wall. Around him there were wagons and carriages. He must have been in a lot for pony wagons. 

There was the faintest glimmer of hope now, there were buildings and wagons and an outside he could walk around in. Maybe he could finally find somepony else besides himself in this nightmare world. Walking away from the hole Knick found a metal gate that was used to keep the wagons protected in the night. Thankfully it was unlocked and only took a moment to slip past. Strangely it let out into an alley way that Knick would have thought rather inconvenient for moving the wagons back and forth but it was just wide enough for two to pass by each other. 

As he walked down what felt like too long of an alley way Knick saw light in the entrance up ahead. It looked like the street lamps were lit, however they provided little light with the filth caked onto the glass. His steps echoed through the alley way but he began to hear another sound; his watch.

The grinding had started up faintly, something was waiting for him. Maybe another one of those mares with the acid mouths or those long, straight back dog creatures. Or maybe the monster with the big eye... It didn't matter. He was tired of letting this place abuse him. Knick Knack narrowed his eyes and tested his tail's grip around the bat. Once he was prepared Knick carefully walked towards the opening of the alley. But there was another sound that was filling the streets besides his own steps and the metallic grinding.

It was wet and savage, an awful sound that Knick had never heard before but he thought he understood. Keeping close to the walls of the alley he set his lantern down to keep the light from giving himself away. Slowly he crept along the wall and peeked around to view the sight before him.

His body shook seeing the beast. There was no other word to describe it, a beast was most fitting. It was huge, the width of its shoulders matching one of the wagons back at the lot easily. Its body shaped like that of a dog's only it was all wrong. The front part was gigantic and its front legs were disproportionately huge compared to its back legs. Worst of all was its mouth; long like it belonged to a crocodile instead of any kind of mammal. Its head sunk into its huge shoulders and the mouth snapping and swallowing.

Knick couldn't tell what it was eating at first until he saw the leg fall out of its mouth, a pony's leg. He backed up to hide behind the alley wall again and felt his body shaking hard enough to drop to the ground. It was so large, there was no possible way he could ever fight it. It would murder him in seconds like it did to that other pony it was devouring. Could he sneak around it? Should he even try?

Knick got back to his hooves and picked up his lantern, looking around the street. There were several buildings but the doors were all closed shut, they didn't look boarded up like his own store though. There was a storm drain that went to a lower part of the city to prevent flooding that was fairly wide, but it looked steep and if he were to try to run down it he could hurt himself pretty bad. Besides he couldn't see how far it went with how dark everything was. The only chance he had was to try to walk down the other direction of the street and try to stay out of sight. 

Swallowing a lump in his throat Knick readied himself to go. As he tried to lower his breathing his body kept shaking. Then the baseball bat his tail was wrapped around slipped off his back where he had it resting. He had been so nervous he didn't even think about it, till it hit the cobblestone street with a wooden "klunk". 

The beast turned its head towards the alley. Knick's heart stopped. 

There was a terrible moment as Knick listened closely to the breathing of the monster, one where he dared not move a muscle should he give himself away. He held his breath and stayed perfectly still. The beast continued to sniff the air for a while longer before opening its mouth and letting the dead pony meat slide from its long jaws. It took a single step, and the watch became twice as loud with its warning. 

Knick turned and fled as fast as he could down the alley way, the beast roaring as it charged after him. He felt the monster's vibrations on the cobblestone as it was coming down the alley way, he could hear its eager panting as it chased a fresh meal. Knick had thought he was prepared for anything, to face any challenge but he had been so wrong. Now he was running for his life. As he ignored the pain coming from his front legs he saw the gate before him and pushed himself that much harder. He closed the distance and slipped in at an angle through the slightly opened gate. Knick stopped in time to look as the creature collided against the metal bars and slammed the gate closed shut. 

It roared in rage and clawed at the gate, trying to slip its over sized jaws through the bars at Knick but there was simply now way it could get at him. As clawing didn't prove to be useful the beast eventually sat down and stared at Knick, panting hard in anticipation of the meal before it. Its eyes were red and lacked any sort of remorse, it just wanted to eat. 

He backed away from the bars slowly as it watched him, looking back at the hole in the wall. He had an exit, it would probably take him back to his house but he didn't care. Anywhere was better than right here, right now. Turning his back on the monster Knick climbed up into the hole and into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

"I ran away..." Knick said to himself as he looked up at the ceiling from his bed. "I ran away like a scared little colt. I thought I was getting tougher..." After retreating from the horrible beast in the dark alley way Knick was pondering what exactly was he supposed to do? The monster he'd seen was far too big for him to fight and if it hadn't been for the sturdy metal gate and the fact he hadn't opened it all the way when he first got there he'd be dead right now.

Still what was he supposed to do? One injured pony with a baseball bat and a lantern wasn't much of a threat to a giant monster that snaps up adult ponies in its jaws. He doubted he could fight it off with such a weapon and he knew his own body wasn't strong enough to battle something like that. "Maybe if I was Tough Odds or Spring Shade I could figure out a way around that thing. Maybe Annie's dad is right, I am a weak excuse for a stallion." He rolled onto his uninjured side and sighed. 

This shouldn't have been bothering him this much. Knick was trapped in his own personal hell and being brave and fighting monsters was not something he should be having a dilemma over. Survival was what was important right now. But with his courage had left his hope ran away with it. Now he was a sad little pony laying on a bed feeling even more miserable than before. "If only I was stronger. Or even smarter, then I could figure out a way around that thing and into the city." It was presumptuous thinking since he had no idea how many of those beasts might be in that town. He could have a whole city filled with pony corpses strewn about by horrible, vicious dog beasts. Not even corpses, just pony meat thrown to the walls by their jaws. He hugged himself thinking of the horrible scene back at the alley way. 

"Pony meat... no. There's no way." He sat up suddenly when the dark idea crossed his head. It made sense in a way but the thought was disturbing. In the kitchen there was a slab of meat he couldn't identify from that train yard. Through that hole there was a terrible monster that delighted in eating ponies. It almost fit together, like a puzzle. "If you start to acknowledge that you'll go insane." He was already walking that line carefully as it was. The idea this was all one huge, horrible, elaborate puzzle he was supposed to solve was too difficult to comprehend. That would mean there was purpose to all of this, or at the very least a goal set by somepony. Somepony that could control his very fate.

Focusing on the immediate problem to get his mind off the looming one, Knick got off the bed and headed towards the bed room door to go downstairs. He stopped suddenly though when he heard hoof steps that didn't belong to him. His eyes widening Knick dropped his whole body to the floor on instinct making sure what ever might be downstairs didn't see him. He listened on terrified as the steps walked loudly until finally they just stopped. He waited but no other sound came. 

Finally working up the courage Knick rose to his hooves and proceeded carefully down the stairs. He looked around not seeing much of anything out of the ordinary. All the items he'd left on the store counter were still there, the shelves were all still dusty and old, the display of educational materials was still horrible and evil. Actually it looked surprisingly more horrible and evil than before. The wood looked of an awful color on the cabinet where all the items sat and there were blood stains on the protractor as if it had been used to stab someone. The abacus itself that had started this mess looked fine funny enough. Knick inspected farther up and that's when he saw the source of the noise. "Oh what the hay is all this?" 

There were hoof prints on the walls, on the ceiling, going into the store. It was like a pair of the horseshoes that had been hanging on the wall had decided to go for a stroll. He'd be laughing if it weren't for the fact that they were probably possessed by something awful. Knick followed the path of dirty horse shoe prints through the store and weaved in and out of the shelves to see where it was taking him. He stopped when he saw the prints had walked down back to the floor and seemingly disappeared behind a book case. 

"Wait... wait just a second here." Knick got closer to this book case, looking at the top row. "That can't be a coincidence." There was a wide open space for more books to be placed into the top shelf, but on either side it was already filled perfectly from top to bottom with two books. On the left there was a white book with a purple type face that read "Giving You What You Need" and opposite from that was another book of the same size. This one was pink with a deeper pink for the text that read "How to Laugh the Blues Away". He looked over the books carefully before conceding as to what this must have meant. 

Knick walked back to the store counter and grabbed the books he'd retrieved from the freezer and from the evil cabinet. Taking them back to the book case he slid them in carefully to find that they fit perfectly and went along with the set just fine. Looking them over he guessed there had to be room for at least two more. 

Moving through the shelves back towards the store counter he stood there thinking things over carefully. Anger was swelling up inside of him and he grit his teeth feeling the pent up emotions come to a boil. Turning around Knick Knack let out a shout as he bucked the store counter with his back hooves, knocking the candle off it onto the floor. "I hate you!" Knick screamed as he bucked the counter again making the wood crack. "I hate you!" He screamed again bucking the counter harder and harder. "I hate, hate, hate you!" He hit the counter one last time, sending the wood splintering through to the other side and collapsing onto his haunches. "What do you want from me!? Why are you doing this!?" Of course only silence in reply. 

"Why... what is the meaning of all of this? It doesn't make sense!" He knocked a row of toys off of one of the shelves and watched them hit the floor. "Why put me through this torture? Why all the pointless puzzles!? This isn't a game, it's my life!" Knick hit another row of toys and fell to the ground with them, feeling similar to the discarded items. Right now he felt like he was just somepony's play thing. "This is my life..." The words were heavy and kept him down on the floor. Until finally he picked himself up again. He had to play the game, this was his life. 

He proceeded into the kitchen to find that the refrigerator was looking as terrible as the cabinet. It wasn't just rusted now, there was a dried red liquid that seemed as if it had poured out of the base of the fridge onto the floor and there were stains of what seemed to be dried blood on the outside as well. Who knew what pony it belonged to. Opening the door to the fridge Knick was greeted with the sights and smells he'd been dreading. 

The package of meat was still sitting there, looking fresh despite its surroundings. The rest of the fridge had meat and what looked like organs spread around inside. There was a bag at the bottom of the fridge that was pulsating as if it had a heart beat. Knick reached inside quickly and pulled out the package wrapped in twine, finding it was cold to the touch as if the fridge had kept it fresh this whole time. Setting it aside he closed the refrigerator door and stared at the appliance in dread. How long before all of this spread to the rest of the house? 

Knick placed the wrapped meat into his ever present saddle bag and walked upstairs, leaving behind the mess of his tantrum. Let his mysterious torturer clean it up for all he cared. 

Heading into his room he grabbed the essentials; the lamp with his teeth and the baseball bat with his tail. The house key and the watch were still in his bag as he'd never taken them out. Knick walked back to the bathroom feeling the cold air blow on him from the hole. "Here we go again." To the answer to a puzzle, or an ironic death. He didn't know anymore but he'd play along. This was his life now.


	8. Chapter 8

The darkness, the hard cobblestone street, the crisp, cool air; it was all familiar to him. He was back in the parking lot for the wagons again. Rising to his hooves carefully Knick quickly became aware of his surroundings and started to inspect them. The lot was quiet and undisturbed, the circle was in the wall behind him as it had been the first time he arrived in this place. The gate before him was closed and thankfully there were no giant dog beasts waiting to devour him. 

So there were rules it seemed. Every time he'd ever gone through the hole in his house before it was always after going through a different hole than the one he'd entered previously to the other world. But now that he retreated back through this entrance to his home he was spit out where he'd left off. Was the magic hole leading him some place specific as he crawled through each tunnel? Was he coming out into a different shop each time he exited the other world? That was too insane to consider even with magic. He supposed he'd find out when he finally arrived at the next exit. 

His lantern and baseball bat were still at the ready, Knick securing both back in his mouth and tail respectively as he slid the gate open carefully and looked down the alley way. He didn't see the giant dog monster but that didn't mean it wasn't waiting for him in the streets. With careful steps despite the burned hoof and cut leg Knick Knack was able to walk slowly and silently down towards the street outlet. As he approached he heard the soft grinding of his watch. There was a friend waiting for him it seemed. 

Knick kept to the side of the wall as he walked at the same pace, listening intently and hearing what sounded like labored breathing. It was heavy and deep, the only clear sound in the empty streets of whatever dark town this was. Setting the lantern down he crawled up carefully as he pressed against the wall, trying to look around the corner without being seen. 

The dog beast was there, and very fortunately facing the opposite direction of the street away from him. It was standing on it's oddly disproportionate legs as if it were waiting for something to appear down the road. He had no idea what it could be and didn't really care, more concerned about his own skin now then anyone else. Looking past the dog on the lamp lit road Knick could see the large storm drain that had the hole in the grate, big enough for a pony to fit through. It was too dark to see how deep it went but Knick knew that wasn't the proper strategy... or rather solution to this puzzle. Reaching into his saddle bag Knick took out the meat wrapped in paper and twine and began to unravel the package. 

When the meat was exposed to air the creature suddenly stopped breathing hard and stood at attention, its nose most likely picking up the scent of the fresh food. Knick didn't have a lot of options for tricking this creature so he went with the most basic plan and just chucked the meat slab across the street at the opening in the grate, hoping to lure the dog beast onto what looked like weak and rusted metal.

The meat slid across the cobble stone street and stopped just before the hole in the grate. Knick felt like cursing himself out loud for messing up this plan so completely. Getting ready to make a hasty retreat back to the hole he saw the beast turn its entire body towards the bait left on the ground. To Knick's surprise the monster charged at it full force and dove its huge jaws down at the food. When its snout connected with the grate the creature not only broke through it but destroyed some of the stone ground around the opening, falling into the sewers below or where ever it was that hole lead to.

Knick stood wide eyed. "That... worked?" It was almost too good to believe, Knick felt like jumping in the air and clicking his hooves together. "You've got to be kidding me." Knick picked up his lantern and turned the flame up a bit, walking over to the gaping hole. He shined the light into the darkness which was probably the stupidest thing you could do after just avoiding a huge monster trying to eat you but he was too curious to let it go. Not seeing a bottom even with the assisted light from his lantern he counted his few lucky stars that the monster was probably lost down in whatever was in that pit... for now. 

There were now options available and Knick took time to consider them. There were two ways to go down the street, which curved away from the alley to make it difficult to see where it was he was going. Seeing that the dog beast was to the right side of the road when he appeared he deduced there must have been a reason it was preventing him from going that direction. 

"Yeah, there MUST be a reason. Cause that's how things work, right?" Knick pondered to himself as he walked slowly down the street. Before he was exploring these places with the simple hope that he'd find an exit or another pony that would get him back home. But as time was wearing on Knick was coming to terms that wherever this place was just simply didn't work that way. The only living beings he found were monsters, the only help he found was in cryptic messages and clues, the only ground he gained was the ground it wanted him to have. He was somepony's toy. For now. When he found whoever was doing this to him well... he certainly had no plans to show them love or tolerance. He was learning how to express himself with a blunt object fairly well.

The houses were boarded up, the streets were covered in dirt or possibly some kind of black soot. It was like some kind of ashy dirt that he didn't want to get in his coat or on his hooves, especially in the wounded places. There were dark corners everywhere but nothing that stood out. Experience had taught Knick that searching carefully was good but there was no need to dig through every little pile of dirt. Find that which didn't seem to belong and move quickly was the way to survival. 

As his thoughts turned to figuring out what his next puzzle was Knick was suddenly alerted by the grinding of his watch. His body spun around quickly expecting to hear the huge dog beast charging his way but there was no evidence of such a thing. The streets were still and quiet aside from the noise of his watch and his own breathing. Turning around again Knick look down the road before him in case a new threat was coming but still he saw nothing. No giant monsters, no moving creatures, no spitting mares in provocative clothing. Just to be safe anyway he dimmed his lantern light down to avoid drawing attention to himself. 

Knick walked further down the road and the grinding of his watch stayed consistent, no visible sign of danger around him. He looked over every door way and window, even looking up to check the roofs of the buildings but still nothing was there. Was his watch finally breaking down. It seemed unlikely as the thing only made a noise he could hear he always assumed it was magic in some manner. Gazing at the thin spaces between the houses as he passed them he stopped to wonder where something could even come from to attack him in such a confined area. The streets had enough room for two wagons to pass each other but other than that there was no space for anything else to maneuver. 

The watch's grinding grew louder. 

Knick stopped to consider what could possibly be in the area. He looked at the sky to see if there was a bird or something flying but no such thing appeared. Although he did note suddenly and with some concern that the sky had no moon. Nor did it have any stars or any sort of celestial beings. It was as if there was a black blanket draped across the city itself. 

So if the threat wasn't something flying and he saw nothing else coming from the roofs what else could it be? He looked around himself further, seeing the doors were all closed shut tightly, the only thing even a little out of place were old milk bottles left outside. Either waiting to be filled or having already been delivered. 

The watch's grinding grew louder. 

There were the small spaces between the homes but there was no way a pony could fit through there. The only thing that could slip through there would be something very thin and very flexible. Something that could crawl or pull it's body through tight spaces. 

The watch's grinding grew louder. Knick heard the sound of high pitched breathing.

It registered slowly in his mind, the thoughts coming together piece by piece. When they did finally click he felt the warm sensation at his side and turned his head to look behind himself. One of the thin, tall dog monsters from the train had snuck up on him as it had climbed out of a thin sewer grate. It was dragging one of its long, clawed fingers along the side of his body, cutting the skin and causing warm blood to trickle onto his skin. 

"Nnngh!" Knick had a panicked moment as he realized the creature was slicing into him like the one at the train had on his leg. He recalled the strong grip its long arm could crush with, and used the bat his tail held to swat the monster's arm away from his body. The creature made a gasp in surprise as its arm was knocked away and Knick turned his body to face the monster. The slight deterrent not stopping its advance as it pulled its long body from the sewer grate and stood up on two legs. It's upright back bringing it to stand unnaturally tall for any creature of Equestria. 

Pain was starting to set into his side but Knick had no plans to give it any thought. Moving forward he swung his body around to hit the creature in the knees with the baseball bat when it got close. Thankfully it was surprised by the attack and fell to the cobblestone street with a squeal from the impact. Knick didn't plan to let it come at him again however. Raising his back legs he brought the bat down again and again at the creature, beating it with the blunt object while he had it at his mercy.

When he turned to face the creature it was trying to rise. Knick didn't feel like giving it a chance to recover and placed his front hoof on the the dog monster's neck. He recalled how he did this at the school when he'd beaten the vile mare in the head repeatedly until she fell. How she gasped and choked from the savage beating. He'd been disgusted by his actions that snuffed out her life before but they were almost merciful at the time with how badly he'd damaged her. 

There was no mercy in this. Knick applied pressure with his hoof and felt the flesh give way under him, the creature groaning in agony and then ceasing its actions altogether. This wasn't mercy, it was efficiency. He'd killed again and this time it didn't bother him near as much. 

Knick stared down at the horrible twisted mess of the dog creature; its mismatching limbs, hideous mouth and face, strange upright designed body. How many ponies had it killed before? How many ponies had adopted the needed weapons and mentality to fight back against these things before him? He'd never once thought it before these events started but Knick was beginning to realize just how easily a pony can kill if it wanted to. 

Knick stopped admiring his work after he realized something; the watch never stopped making noise. Knick looked up to see that from the small openings in the house and the storm drains and gutters around him there were more of those monsters coming. Many more in fact, there were at least three before him slipping from the darkness now with their large black eyes looking his way. Knick didn't want to test his bravery further and he turned to run down the street. 

As he did so he began to see more of the dog monsters emerging from their hiding places, all slowly pulling themselves out but there was enough that Knick was worried. If they surrounded him he was finished for sure. Running as fast as his body would allow with its newest gash cut into his side Knick pushed himself down the cobblestone road until he reached the end of his path. 

It was a tunnel, not like his hole that lead him through one world to the next but a normal street tunnel with a bridge over top of it. However it was blocked off by two wagons filling the tunnel's entrance from side to side. Looking behind himself he could see in the distance some of the dog creatures had already emerged onto the street and were awkwardly walking their way towards him. Knick considered maybe crawling under the wagons but after seeing where his last hunters appeared from he figured that was a bad idea. 

Searching around the street Knick looked to the houses, trying to see if there was a window or a cellar that wasn't boarded up to crawl into for safety. As he searched he found a door that didn't look as ruined as the others and there were no boards over it. Then he recalled the house key. Running to the door Knick put down the lantern and dug inside of his bag, rooting around frantically until his teeth clasped over the small key. Such things weren't built well for ponies that weren't unicorns Knick thought in annoyance. 

Walking up to the door he silently hoped for some luck this time around and pushed the key into the lock, twisting his jaw and feeling satisfaction when the lock turned and the door became accessible. Not to waste time Knick turned and grabbed his lantern before the monsters could get within grabbing distance. Dropping his hoof onto the door handle he slipped inside and closed it behind him quickly.

The watch finally stopped grinding. Knick leaned against the door breathing heavily as he recovered from having to run with a fresh cut in his body. Putting the lantern down he turned the flame up to shed more light in the room and looked over his injury. The monster had done well in making a good gash in his skin but luckily the straps on his saddle bag had protected him some. It must not have used enough pressure to cut the fabric that made up his carry bags. Still some bandages would be appreciated for that cut. As he was looking over his cut a realization hit him that there was another sound in the room besides his own labored breathing. Looking back and forth he saw the source of the odd noise.

On the wall was a foal. Its coat was ghostly white and its mane a faded grey. Like every other pony of this nature he'd encountered this foal had her eyes removed and she was a unicorn. However unlike all the others she was currently pinned into the side of the wall by a silver knife. "Who... what is this?" Knick approached the foal with his lantern, her body wiggling like a worm on a hook though there was no hope in her dislodging the blade that had her pinned into the wall like a macabre decoration.

Knick looked the blade over noting its unusual appearance. The handle was large, big enough to shove the front of his hooves through the decorative circles just below the hilt. The handle itself though was rather small making it unlikely to be a useful weapon if used by mouth or by tail. His bat was probably the better choice to stay with. 

It wasn't until he turned to inspect the rest of the room that he realized his only focus on the foal pinned to the wall was whether or not that knife would have been a more efficient tool for violence. He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Just calm down. You've gone through some stress so it's not that strange that you'd... you'd be thinking like that." Like a killer? "Focus on escaping." There was a hole somewhere in this town that would take him back to his shop. The rules of the game were becoming clear to him. Once you knew the rules you could figure out how to play the game. And if necessary break those rules to win. Then maybe he could truly escape this hell. 

The rest of the house was a living room and a kitchen but it all looked worn away. There was a table in the kitchen and several rusted pots and pans, rusted over silverware and dirty plates. Amongst all the filth though his lantern's light glimmered off of a familiar sight. Knick set the lantern down on the table and reached his hoof out to pick up the silver candle. "What is it that you do that I keep finding you?" He looked the shiny piece of wax over. They seemed important and it was one of the few consistent things that appeared to him in each of these places he ended up. The other was pinned to the wall currently struggling to get free.

Knick dropped the candle into his saddle bag and went back to look at the ghost foal pinned to the wall again. He noted that the blade in her was also of a silver color, and recalled that back in the train yard the ghost filly he encountered had run from the candle after he had lit it. "Is silver what's hurting you?" Knick considered reaching up to take the knife, thinking it might be useful to fight off any other creatures like her. But at the moment it was keeping her from assaulting him and so he chose to leave it for now. 

The living room wasn't much more interesting than the kitchen; rotted couch and chair, a coffee table and a few decorative pictures that had all rotted to an unrecognizable state. There was a hall leading deeper into the house and it was guarded by two large, decorative vases on either side of the hallway. Deciding there was nothing left of interest here in the front of the house Knick proceeded further in using his lantern to light the way. There was a door at the end of the hall he could see from a ways off and another on the left side of the wall near it. Before there though he found a door that was open directly on his left, leading into a bathroom. To his right was another familiar sight.

The blue door stood there, ominous amongst the rest of the house. It wasn't dirty or damaged like the rest of the walls, its gold trim and blue finish making it stand out amongst the rest of the house. Knick froze when he saw it, remembering the last time he passed by this door back at the school. He didn't have any proof but he was absolutely sure that whatever had killed all the monsters back then had come from this door. 

Actually something was wrong about it. Every other time he encountered it Knick had noticed that it was forced into the walls. Like it belonged some place else but had been cut into the world he was occupying at the time. Now when he looked at it the door didn't seem so out of place. Actually... "They match." He said through his teeth looking at the two door ways across from each other. While the trim around the bathroom was worn and dirty it was clearly the same molding that was used to frame it. This door belonged in this house. He was in the home of whatever lived in that room. 

Knick finally breathed out through his nostrils, realizing he'd been holding his breath since he encountered the blue door. The house was still quiet other than the noises of the foal scraping the walls to try and free herself. He wasn't in danger just yet. 

Turning into the bathroom Knick set the lantern down and began to rummage through everything. The sink held nothing useful, the bathtub was an awful muck. Knick lifted the toilet lid and thought he saw something deep in the black muck of its bowl. He held his hoof out to reach down inside but instead closed the lid. "I'll consider that a last resort." It probably wasn't anything he wanted to grab anyway.

Pulling at the mirror he found it was a medicine cabinet, and sure enough there was some medicine inside. "Well, who would have thought?" He pulled out the bottle of liquid with the words "Nutrition Drink" written on the white label. Knick considered swallowing the contents right away but realized that despite the cut on his side he was holding up fairly well, the bleeding had even stopped already despite the dull ache it gave. Deciding to keep it just in case Knick slipped the bottle into his bag and walked out of the bathroom. 

Heading down the hallway further he found the door to his left was boarded up and the handle didn't turn regardless. If the effort to get inside was too great then it probably wasn't worth trying anyway. Instead he tried the door to the room at the end of the hall, but when he reached out to grab the handle he was in for a surprise. "What the... a flat surface?" Knick felt around where the door handle should have been but there was just a hole. The door wasn't boarded up so it must have been the way he was supposed to go.

"Great, so now I have to find a door knob." Where could that have been? In the toilet? "Oh please no." Hidden somewhere inside of the house? "Maybe... not behind that blue door I hope." Outside? By Celestia's Mane he hoped that wasn't the case. It could have been anywhere out there. It could have even been the other direction down the street, in a whole other house, in a whole other toilet! 

"Don't jump to conclusions." Knick tried to calm himself, he hadn't searched the whole house yet. Narrow the search down little by little and you'll eventually find what you're looking for. Knick trotted back down the hallway, being sure to walk softly past the blue evil door. Whatever was in there he didn't want to alert it to his presence while he was searching the house. Getting back into the living room he looked around himself. He didn't think the ghost filly had what he needed but there may have been something hidden inside one of the kitchen cabinets or under the furniture. "Actually..." 

Knick propped the lantern at the edge of one of the large vases, looking inside. He peered down into the right vase as deep as he could but all he saw was dust and grime. "Too obvious I guess." Just to be thorough though Knick walked over to the other vase and held the lantern up near the edge while looking deep inside. "Well well, guess my talent lets me find things other than rare antiques easily." There at the bottom of the vase was the door knob, just waiting to be returned to its rightful place.

Knick set the lantern down on the ground and got back up near the large vase, reaching in with his hoof. He wiggled it around inside but couldn't get his limb down deep enough to even begin to pull it out. Giving up on that method Knick uncurled his tail from the bat and set it down as well, turning around to see if he could pull it out with his tail. Sadly this was even more awkward and less likely to be successful than his front hooves. Knick grumbled in annoyance. "Well how am I supposed to get you!? You know what, I'm not messing around with this." 

Knick took a step forward and tried to kick the vase over, however that proved surprisingly difficult. He didn't know what the vase was made out of but it was solid. Enough that his kicks didn't crack the surface and he wasn't anywhere close to knocking it over with its heavy base. He thought of using his bat to smash it but that seemed even less likely of being successful than his back legs. 

"Another puzzle?" Knick sat down and thought it out. There was a door knob he needed to get into the next room. It was well out of his reach in a container he couldn't smash or tip. There had to be a tool or something that would let him pull it out of the vase. "If I wasn't a 'No-Horn' this would be pretty easy." A lot of these stupid puzzles would have been easier had he been a unicorn. 

There wasn't any kind of fishing line or other sort of hook anywhere. He didn't see a broom or any kind of tool to try and slide it out, as hard as that might be. He could possibly stab the wooden part of the handle with that knife if his tail could hook around and then hit it. Then he could fish it out, but that meant that ghostly foal would be after him. "Wait, it's wood so that means it's pretty light weight." Knick walked into the kitchen and hit the faucet. "Nuts." Nothing. No water came out, which was a shame because it seemed like such a good plan. He could have just floated it to the top if he had some liquid to fill the vase with. Maybe one of the other houses had some working water, or even stored juice or something. "Wait a minute... milk bottles." 

He'd seen them in front of the doors when he was running through the street. Milk bottles, dozens of them. There was at least one on every porch. That was the trick he bet. Use what's in them to fill the vase then use that to float the knob to where he could reach it. That just meant he'd have to out maneuver all those dog monsters, and carry all those milk bottles back into the house without getting killed. Probably one at a time. Simple right? 

Knick stared at the door leading back outside, he'd left the key in the lock but the creatures didn't seem smart enough to get through doors. The only monster he'd seen follow him through a door was the ghostly school filly back at the school. The one in the train yard had gone through the ceiling too. He assumed that any of them could probably slip through a solid surface, except this foal was stuck with that knife in her. Maybe he could pull it out of her to use as a weapon. Then when he was outside he'd have a more formidable tool to defend himself and he could lure her out of the house.

"Or I could do this." Knick turned around from the door to face the hallway, and charged. Why risk his life with these stupid puzzles and items to complete this puzzle? He had legs, the door had a single bolt lock; the simple answer was the best one. As he barreled down the hallway Knick turned at the last second and kicked the door hard with his back hooves, slamming it open with the splintering of wood and a loud bang. 

There was another loud bang directly after that. Knick was facing down the hall when he saw the blue door slam open and hit against the wall. His heart stopped as the haunted entry way seemed to suck all of the heat out of the air around him and chill everything to its core. Suddenly all the candles and lanterns inside the house lit with flame, the ghostly foal in the living room cried out in surprise, and a huge black hoof stepped out of the blue door. Knick ran into the room he'd just opened and shut the door behind him.

"Oh no oh no oh no!" Knick turned and looked around the room he was in. It appeared to be a foal's bedroom, complete with old toys scattered about, a bed and pictures hung on the wall. Knick didn't have time to register these thoughts as he desperately searched for a place to hide. Swing his head back and forth he finally located a closet and ran over quickly as fear drove him. When he opened the closet door the door to the hallway exploded in a bright flash, flying off its hinges in scorched wooden splinters. Knick wasted no time in diving into the closet door and hiding inside. 

It was a poor place to hide one's self. The door for the closet had blinds and he could see the light from the bedroom through each of the small, slanted pieces of wood. Knick backed himself up as far as he could against the junk in the closet, his whole body shaking as the giant creature walked into the bed room with ground shaking steps. He wished he had something to protect himself with but he didn't know if it would have mattered anyway. It had destroyed the monsters at the school, it had shattered doors with whatever power it possessed. How difficult would it be to kill him? 

The steps got closer. As it walked into sight of the closet door Knick could see it wasn't the size of a normal pony. Its body was large, tall like Princess Celestia was larger than other ponies but bulkier and more imposing than that. It was on all fours and he could see veins that pulsed with an electric energy from its neck all the way down to its front hooves. Its body was black and cloudy, and its skin seemed to move like ink in water or with the pulsing veins maybe more like a thunder cloud with lighting flashing through it. Worst yet was its head; the shape was completely wrong, and when it moved back and forth he could see the front of it was flat and long like somepony wearing a mask. 

It looked at the closet, it knew he was there. Knick was going to die in this room before he even managed to find the exit to this horrible world. 

As it approached the door Knick could see that instead of two eyes like a normal pony there was one, huge eye that was staring at him off the mask. It didn't seem to have a mouth, and the horn coming off of its head seemed to grow out of the mask instead of pushing through like it was growing from there. Of course the creature of his death would be a unicorn; everything else here had been so far. The horn on the monster began to glow and Knick Knack could only assume that meant the crashing force of lightning was going to come down on him. He covered his face with his front hooves and closed his eyes, apologizing to Annie in his heart. 

There was a loud sound that made him jump slightly in his hiding place but it wasn't the boom of thunder or the crackle of lightning. Instead it was the sound of the ghost foal, she was crying out like a normal baby pony. Knick realized he hadn't been run through with explosive magic yet and found the courage to look up. The masked unicorn was no longer looking at the closet but instead towards the door it had come in from. It just stood there silently listening to the cries of the ghost foal. Knick kept his body perfectly still awaiting the monster's next move. Was it trying to lure him out? 

Then to his complete surprise, it walked away. 

He couldn't believe it. The unstoppable monster that had come to murder him was just going to leave? Did he really fool it? Knick stayed in the closet for a while until he couldn't feel the shaking foot steps of the masked unicorn any longer. When he was sure it wasn't in the room he slowly opened the closet door and stuck his head out to peek. The room was empty save for him. 

Knick walked quietly but quickly as he searched the room frantically and discovered what he'd been after; a hole. It was the same hole with the weird designs around its circular entrance as all the other ones he'd come through in these insane worlds. Finally the very exit he'd been longing for. The reason he hadn't noticed previously was despite the gaping entrance it had carved into the wall there was still a painting that covered it up. Though it wasn't big enough to hide the hole it managed to hang by a nail that had nearly fallen out of the wall before the opening. The picture was actually very clean in comparison to the other frames in the room and depicted a black colored mare on it. Something about her was familiar...

"SKKREEEEEE!" His head snapped back to the door way which lead into the hall. There was a horrible screaming coming from the other room and after Knick listened for a few seconds he realized it was the voice of the ghost filly. 

"He's... he's torturing it." The masked unicorn was doing something in that other room to the monster he'd left pinned to the wall, now at that thing's mercy. "Better her than me." The thought was cold but necessary to Knick, he needed to escape. He'd done his part here and lucked out on that thing getting distracted, now it was time to go. Knick took the painting down and shoved it into the hole before him. Something about it told him that he probably needed it. 

As he pushed the painting forward and crawled in the foal's cries were continuing, sounding more and more like a real baby pony who was in pain. His body stilled once in instinct to help her and turn back. Was it right leaving her to whatever torture that thing unleashed on her? Even if she was one of the monsters trying to kill him should he leave it to suffer so horribly? Her cries were heart-rending. 

"Sorry, but I can't die here yet." He whispered and pushed himself deeper into the darkness. Better her than him.


	9. Chapter 9

Knick beat his hooves against the bed. He'd been doing so since he woke up, cursing his complete lack of competence. In his rush to escape that house he had left behind both items that had proven more valuable than any other he'd come across in this terrible world; his lamp and his weapon. When he'd broken down that door he'd left both back in the living room to give him plenty of room to run. Once that cyclops came looking for him though Knick had pushed out all rational thought, his fear being a driving factor. More than anything else he had wanted to escape that cold glare that paralyzed him with fear. That thing killed everything without remorse, even the other creatures of that world. It was walking death. 

Once Knick had tired himself out from his tantrum and rested himself on the bed he looked over at his newest trophy. The painting was propped up against the wall near his bed where his lantern would have normally been. The light in the room was getting dimmer as if whatever sun was outside in that mist filled world past the windows was starting to go down. However that didn't stop him from getting a good look at the lady in the painting from what light that did seep in through the boards. 

The mare in the picture was completely black, her mane draped around her like stars in the night sky. Her horn punched through a blue, metal helmet and around her shoulders was a breastplate worthy of a warrior. Her eyes were like turquoise gems that were both frightening and beautiful at the same time. "Wait a minute... I know who this is." He picked himself off the bed and held the painting up to get a better look at it against the light. "Nightmare Moon. We have a statue of her just outside Ponyville for the Nightmare Night celebrations." Sure enough the black mare was the queen of the night herself.

"She's... she's a lot more beautiful than I thought." It was kind of an odd thing to think about the symbol of terror for all little fillies and colts but she was indeed very pretty. Strong and intimidating but still pretty, it was like she had actually posed for a picture like this and somepony with great talent had taken the time to paint it. "Heh, kinda reminds me of Wither Rose's work. I bet he'd leap at the chance to paint a pony like you, Queen of the Night." She didn't respond of course, thankfully. "Now then, where do you go?" 

After tossing the meat in the fridge and putting the abacus on its display he had a feeling that this item had a place in his shop too. It was just the way it had all worked out up until now. He looked along the walls until he found a spot in his own bedroom just above the dresser that showed a rectangular spot where the dust hadn't completely covered the wall. It even had a nail in it already. "Knew it." Knick Knack walked back over to the picture and hoisted it up, placing it on the wall and stepping back. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "Yeah, knew that would happen too." 

From the edges of the painting it began to spread. Like veins under tense skin they spread out into the wall, dampening the wall paper and creeping outward with whatever may be flowing inside those tendrils. He watched as it spread out further and further until finally it stopped. Knick sighed. "Guess the show is over." Click. "Now for my reward." Knick reached down to the bottom drawer of his dresser but was surprised to find it was locked. He worked his way up the other drawers until he got to the top and it finally slid open, revealing his prize to him. 

Knick reached in and pulled out a book with an azure colored cover, the writing on the spine in a deep pink that read "Loyalty in a Bracelet". Another one for the shelf he supposed. With everything here gone as expected he shut the top drawer and walked downstairs, not even the least bit concerned anymore. 

Frankly this was all getting to be a bit repetitive. He crawls through the hole and gets nearly killed, definitely injured, comes back with some piece of junk to decorate the shop and then gets a book. Following through with the next step he walked past the now black and ashy display of school supplies and still broken clerks desk, through the winding shelves and to the book shelf that held all the other collected tomes he'd found. He considered reading some of them but why waste the time? Slipping the book into the shelf he noticed something. "There's only room for one more." 

Well now that was different. At most he could only squeeze two books into the space left but with how small it was he was sure that wasn't the case. One more book left to collect. One more nightmare left to walk through. What would happen when he had all of the books? Was he supposed to be reading them? Should he have taken the time to do so now? 

"No. Worry about it when you have them all. Then this little puzzle will get solved, just like they want. Then when I find them I'll get what I want." They were cryptic words, rather out of character for Knick Knack when he thought about it. Even though he'd lost his weapon Knick didn't feel all that less confident in returning to the other world. Actually he was feeling anxious, he wanted to finish all of this and get back home. He wanted to punish whoever was doing this to him and put an end to it right now. Any way possible. 

He took a deep breath and looked around himself; there wasn't anything that would serve as a good replacement weapon. He also didn't have his lamp anymore but he did have that candle and the nutrition bottle still in his saddle bag. "Matches." Knick weaved through the shelves back past the ashy black display and broken desk into the kitchen where even more awful things awaited him. 

Whatever had been in the fridge must have multiplied because now it was leaking profusely from the bottom of the appliance. There was a puddle that looked still wet, seeping out from the cracks of the refrigerator door and Knick could only guess what terrible things were behind it. His feet were still injured so he didn't like the idea of having to jump the nasty stuff but stepping in it seemed worse than a little pain to the hooves. Knick hopped over the puddle and winced when his front hooves hit the ground. His torso wasn't doing that much better, the burns in his skin from the vile mare and the cut from the long armed dog monster were irritating him at every move. Still he held out from drinking his medicine, you never know when you might really need something like that. 

Pulling out the drawers in the kitchen he searched each and every one until by some blessing he found what he was after. In the drawer at the end of the kitchen was a book of matches. "Small miracles." Knick thanked that little bit of luck that he wouldn't be completely without light and tossed them into his bag. "Away we go." 

Knick hopped over the puddle with another painful landing and walked back upstairs, stopping to consider if he should take the other candle he left behind the broken counter. He eventually decided against it, wanting to be sure he had a light source when he made it back to the house. "Brave thinking for a skinny pony with no weapon." It didn't matter much to him though, he felt like he could fight if he had to now. Killing wasn't so hard after all.

As he pushed the door to the bathroom open Knick saw the hole in the wall had not only opened up enough to easily crawl through but it also gained its own weird symbols around the edges. He supposed if it grew by that much it must be ready to connect to whatever was important on the other side. "I hope this is the one that leads to you." He had no proof but Knick felt like there had to be some antagonist that was doing this to him. Everything was too thought out with the puzzles and items and clues. They must not have considered him making it this far with all their minions in place. No worry though, Knick Knack will find you. Knick Knack is coming and he's not the same pony you once knew.


	10. Chapter 10

When Knick opened his eyes he found the world around him was draped in the darkness of night, the air was crisp and it smelt of the outdoors. Knick almost panicked that he was somehow back in the city streets that he'd escaped from the last time he'd come through to the other world. However a quick assessment of his situation shed light onto things. Unlike the smooth and hard cobblestone streets from before Knick was now laying on what felt like soft grass. The sky was different now as well in that there was a full moon shining down on him but it was blank, just a white face without the Mare in the Moon upon it. That somehow made him feel sad. The sight of the moon without its inhabitant to watch over him seemed hollow and empty in comparison to its usual appearance. 

He listened to the night and didn't here a single sound. Not even that of insects moving about through the forest. His watch was silent as well and Knick could only assume that he was safe for the moment. He hadn't been attacked once yet when first arriving in the other world and he hoped that would continue to hold true. Finally rising to his hooves he took a moment to figure out where he was, made more difficult by the lack of his lamp. Still he had the blank faced moon to provide him with some light. 

Before him was a forest full of dense trees and thick foliage. He was sure he could see a light in the distance in the woods and assumed that was probably the direction he was supposed to go. There was enough openings through the trees that he should be able to make a path that direction if he chose. The tree line of the forest itself curved around a grassy clearing that he was currently standing in the middle of, stopping when it hit what looked like a dirt road. 

Turning all the way around Knick realized that things weren't as simple looking as he thought. Directly behind him was a covered wagon that was parked on the dirt road. It was larger than he'd expect the average wagon to be and it even had its own larger than average escorts to pull it; two skeleton ponies.

It was unnerving but Knick wasn't afraid when he saw the large skeletons standing at the front of the wagon, hitched up and ready to pull. They didn't move or make a noise, simply standing in place like statues designed for some Nightmare Night haunted house or something. Opposite of the wagon and its deceased drivers was an even thicker line of trees that Knick was sure he couldn't even wedge himself through with how unnaturally close they were. There was the option of the dirt road leading opposite directions but it went off into pitch black darkness despite the light of the full moon. He assumed it was similar to the train yard's pitch black space beyond the tracks. The idea of going that way filled his heart with dread.

"Somethings wrong with you isn't it?" He'd felt like there was something off about the skeleton ponies the moment he saw them. Not twisted or evil but something not quite right (in addition to being fully standing skeletons). Knick looked them over and realized that they were missing pieces. The one that looked like the bones of a stallion was missing his entire right back leg. The one that looked like a mare was missing part of her front left leg. In size they probably stood as tall as the cyclops unicorn that had tried to murder him back in the old house. That's when it hit him. "You're not unicorns."

They were earth ponies like him. Their bodies didn't have a place for wing bones to attach and there was no spot for their horns to grow from their heads. It was oddly comforting to see something different from the normal collection of monsters that was trying to kill him. Even if they were dead. "Then again... the last dead body I found gave me help too." Back in the school house that pony had food in his lunch box that he was willing to trade for milk. "Guess I should put you guys back together again, huh?" 

As Knick proceeded towards the woods another realization hit him. There was no sign of the hole in which he entered through. Normally he could find the hole that dropped him off into the other world but this time there wasn't one. Did he just appear here? Was it covered up somewhere after he came out of it? Did he just fall to earth from the blank faced moon? "Worry about it later." Yes, there were more important things to do. 

Knick tread carefully through the woods, listening intently to the sounds of the forest (or lack there of). It was unsettling that things were so quiet and the last time it had been that way the dog monsters with the long claws had tried to encircle him. Would he be able to outmaneuver them in a place like this if it came to a fight? 

"Give them back!" Knick heard a voice in the distance as he approached what appeared to be fire light in the woods and he suddenly dropped low to the forest floor like a cat hunting a mouse. Though it was out of worry of being prey more than sneaking up on whoever was talking. "Please, give it back to me. I can put them together. Please just let me have them back." Another ghostly voice in the distance from a pony that never responds to a thing he shouts. So instead Knick just listened to what it had to say, noting this time that it wasn't a filly's voice but a colt's. "...I'll put you back together. I promise. I love you."

Knick stayed on his stomach for a while before he realized nothing more would be said. Rising back up to his hooves and cursing the pain he felt in them he began to wonder what that episode of disembodied voices was all about. It was the first time he'd heard a voice other than that of a female. As Knick got closer the trees began to open up further like a recognizable path towards the fire light. 

"What's all this then?" He should have been bothered by the morbid things he found but at this point his mind was making sure to keep him focused on solving the task at hand. There was a fire place indeed in a small camp but it was odd. For one the fire was burning what looked like book bindings and paper as opposed to dry branches. Next was the three logs all set around the fire, one of which had something very interesting to Knick. "Could I be so lucky?" Knick approached the log and put his hoof on a woodspony's ax. 

Its blade looked rusted but still solid. The handle had a wrap to be gripped with by the mouth, which Knick figured from the weight of it would be the best bet of usage than trying to swing it around wildly with his tail. He almost smiled and laughed at the sheer luck of finding such a formidable weapon out here in the woods. Putting his hoof on the log he pulled hard with his mouth until the blade came loose and he was now armed again. It was a bit awkward to handle though unlike the bat or the pipe so to investigate further Knick lodged the ax into the ground where he could easily pull it out if he needed it. 

"More treasure?" Knick walked past the fire and rummaged through what looked like old suit cases and bags. Most everything was beyond use to anypony but there was one clean item amongst the strewn about belongings. "A lamp?" Knick picked up the brass colored lamp and looked it over curiously. Why would such a thing be out here? Remembering an old story Knick once read he took his hoof to the lamp and rubbed it three times. To the amazing effect of... nothing happening. "Well that was stupid of me. Did I expect a genie to pop out?" Well... kinda with way this world worked.

Pulling the lid off the lamp Knick realized it was filled with oil like a lamp traditionally would be. It was meant to refill his lantern to keep the flame going. So much for that. That lead to some interesting thoughts though. "This is here for my lantern... I was supposed to have it still. I messed up back there." All this time he had worked under the assumption that some unseen hoof had been guiding him through these horrible worlds and puzzles. With the intent to make him solve them or kill him or maybe even both. But if this was still here then it was a predetermined thing for him to have for his lantern at this point. "If I'm supposed to still have my lantern can I solve the puzzles here?" Maybe, were there any other lanterns or clues about?

Knick began to search diligently through the old suitcases but there was nothing of use to pull out. "The wagon." That must be where all of this stuff came from. If he got back there Knick might find something else. Turning to pick up his weapon Knick looked past the ax and noticed something on a nearby tree that he hadn't seen before. It was a rope tied around a tree, which would have been unusual on its own except that the rope was also tied into a noose to keep something secure.

Walking past his weapon Knick ran his hoof over the rope, something about it seeming familiar. It was the first time he'd really felt anything that he could recognize as something he recognized from outside of this world but it was also bothering him. Like the sight of him was making him recall... something. Something bad. He couldn't put his hoof on it. The longer he looked at it though the angrier it made him. Like its existence was taunting him. "No." Knick turned and picked up his ax, then with a swing of his neck cut into the rope and the tree. 

Even after it had snapped off from around the trunk and fell to the earth Knick still kept hacking at it. Something about it was wrong and evil; it shouldn't be. He had to destroy it. Picking up the pieces he threw them into the fire and watched as each bit of rope burned slowly. It wasn't until he finished his task that he realized his eyes were crying. His legs shook and buckled from the weight of his own unrecognizable emotions as he fell to his stomach and tried to blink the tears away. "What's wrong with me? I just want to go home. Just let me go home. Just give me back my house and my friends and Annie. Please... give them back." 

Through his sobs his watch began to grind. 

Knick snapped himself out of his depression and grabbed his ax in mouth, looking about himself to where the source of the threat would be. Sneaking through the trees? Coming in from the sky or branches? Maybe it was something horrible burrowing below this time? He circled the fire looking around for the source of the watch's increased warning until he realized what was coming and wished he didn't understand the level of the threat it posed. 

Down the path, walking with heavy and uneven steps approached the giant dog creature. Its gigantic snout proceeding it as it came into view through the light of the fire. Knick nearly dropped the ax when he realized the unstoppable monster would be upon him soon. Where could he possibly hide from that thing? Trying to process what to do Knick looked on further as the beast lumbered by and realized it wasn't even looking his way. Something else was different about it too. 

It wasn't the same beast. It was a similar kind of monster to the first but he could see details now by the fire light. Its body was smaller than the one in the old street, not as large as a wagon but still with the deformed figure of giant shoulders that wedged its head in between like a hulking, muscle bound abomination. Also there was what looked like a white shirt pulled tightly around the monsters torso that was stained red with blood (what else). Most interestingly though in the creature's jaws it held a large bone. Large enough to fit the leg of an oversize pony skeleton. 

Knick needed that bone, he knew it deep inside himself. He had to get that bone but how? Even though it was smaller than the first beast that tried to devour him it was still big enough that a direct fight would result in him getting killed. Even with the increased fighting ability he had with a metal, bladed weapon. He needed to think it through further. Looking at his resources all he had was his nutrition drink, his candle which he really wanted to save for an emergency and his ax. Oh wait there was also the lamp filled with oil. 

Knick Knack smiled the most wicked expression that had ever passed his features as he formed his first plan he ever devised to kill something.

Sinking the ax into the ground near by one of the denser collection of trees but still wide enough for him to slip through Knick returned to the camp site with the fire. The watch was getting slightly quieter as the dog beast passed and Knick realized it was patrolling. Perhaps those huge shoulders make it hard for the monster to look around itself and it somehow hadn't heard him, lucky enough. Pulling the lid off the oil filled lamp again Knick stood on the opposite side of the fire place from where the path was and waited. His watch grew louder and the hairs on his mane stood up. 

The dog creature was coming back from the other direction. When it was in view from the fire place Knick gave out a whistle like he was calling over a pet. The creature shifted its shoulders his direction curiously and Knick stood his ground. "Here boy. Come on, over here." The creature began to breath harder as it realized prey was before it, opening its mouth to growl and dropping the bone to the ground. Perfect. "That's a good boy, come this way, Knick Knack has a treat for you." Despite his arrogant tone Knick was starting to doubt the intelligence of his plan. 

The dog beast breathed heavily and before long was lunging Knick's direction. He didn't have long but the few seconds was all it took. Knick hurled the open lamp full of oil at the dog over the fire place and took off running. The oil splashed onto the dog's face, fur and unusual cloth shirt. It caught flames in seconds. 

The monster whined and barked in pain as it was engulfed in fire. Knick wasted no time in finding trees to hide himself behind as the beast whipped its body around from the sheer pain assaulting its senses. The oil had done well in coating its face despite the long snout and jaws, the dog beast unable to see Knick Knack or even process where he had ran to. It slammed its body into several of the trees and surrounding objects, kicking over the logs by the fire and scraping its body against the ground in a desperate attempt to put the fire out. Knick worried for a second that he might have just started a forest fire but thankfully none of the trees seemed to light up.

As it pushed itself further into the dirt the attempts to struggle against the flame were proving futile. The monsters body shook, convulsed and eventually ceased moving altogether. Knick waited a while to be sure but when his watch stopped making noise he was positive that he'd succeeded. The dog beast was dead. 

Picking up his ax Knick proceeded past the dog body and looked it over, still glowing with fire from the lamp oil around it. The lamp itself had landed directly in the fire and there was no going back for it. At least it had proven useful to him despite not being for the intended purpose. Walking out to the trail Knick sunk the ax into the dirt again and picked up the bone the dog had been carrying. Sure enough, it looked like it would match up with the skeleton back on the road with little issue. "Now if only the others are that easy." Hopefully he didn't misjudge the race of the two pulling that wagon and would end up having to go find every bone for Pegasus wings or something insane like that.

Knick was tempted to run back to the wagon now to see if the bone fit but he decided running back and forth all night in the woods would tire him out fast with the state of his front legs. So wedging the bone into the saddle bag Knick dutifully trotted further down the trail into the woods. There was really no where else to go. 

The moon allowed for some light to peer through the leaves but not much. Knick would have been happier with his lantern to give him some sort of light source to see more clearly but that just wasn't an option anymore. There was the silver candle but he decided that like the nutrition drink he should save it for when he really needed it. As Knick delved deeper into the wood though the trees began to separate more over the path and Knick came to another clearing. 

There were random rocks, some wooden stumps and little to no grass over the cold earth. Mostly though it was just open space that was illuminated by the moon light, a welcome change from the darkness of the woods. Knick walked further in and began to inspect the open space as he tried to make out what the point of it was. He began looking over one of the stumps to see if it had a hollow bottom when he heard the thumping against the earth and the sudden screech of his watch come to life. Then it struck.

Knick hit the earth and rolled over completely from the force of the impact, his ax falling from his mouth when he gasped after being hit. His watch was still blaring out sounds of danger and Knick tried to pick his head up to see what the source of his attack was. 

Towering above him in the moon light was another of the red eyed, dog abominations. This was was different than the others though. It wore a bandana over one of its red eyes and Knick could see the outline of a shirt or what was more like a vest on its body. It wasn't as big as the other one from the cobblestone roads either but its arms were still huge and powerful. Furthermore this one stood up on its smaller back legs, hunched over like a bear. And it was staring directly at Knick. 

He tried to rise to his hooves but the beast knocked him aside again with one of its large paws, Knick rolling over from the impact in a desperate attempt to try and avoid some of the force. Looking up he could see another very big difference was the snout and jaws were much smaller on this dog beast, and clasped tightly in that short muzzle was another bone. Knick was supposed to fight this thing to proceed?

When he tried to move again the dog beast lumbered forward and pressed one of its paws down onto Knick's torso, apply pressure directly to the wound that had barely scabbed over on his side from the cobblestone road. Knick tensed and writhed from the burning pain of his skin and the crushing weight of the monster. It sniffed the air as it leaned over him, opening its mouth to drop the bone to the dirt. It was going to eat him. 

As it leaned in towards him Knick took a desperate shot with his hoof at the dog's blind side, striking it hard in the face. It let out a surprised roar and Knick pelted it in the face five more times before it finally backed up. Seemingly tired of its prey assaulting it repeatedly. Knick used this opportunity to make a desperate attempt at freedom. 

The dog wasn't far away or dazed for long, so Knick forced himself past his body's pain tolerance to make a made leap for his ax. The monster watched him run for his weapon and it started after Knick as well. Running on its larger arms and paws forward like some sort of deranged gorilla. As his teeth clenched around the ax handle Knick turned only to have his body flipped onto his back and feel the mind numbing pain as fangs sunk into his bandaged leg. 

The beast had him down, pinned and it was biting into his flesh. Panic struck through Knick's mind; if this creature bit or pulled his limbs off it was all over. He'd never survive without all four legs. As the pressure grew around his leg Knick swung his head in an arc and landed the ax blade firmly into the dog beasts neck. It let his leg go with a roar, but it did not die. 

Using one bloody leg to try and hold the creature off from biting at his face Knick began desperately beating at the ax blade with his hoof. Striking it over and over again while shouting back in the face of the monster that was trying to chew his nose off. His bandaged leg grew weaker by the second, the dog was leaning in closer. Knick's other hoof beat harder and harder at the solid metal of the ax blades dull and thick base. It hurt his burned hoof but he didn't care. He didn't want to die. He had to survive. 

As the strength began to fade from his front legs the dog slumped forward onto his body but it didn't bite into his flesh. Instead resting over him like a large, uncomfortable and smelly mattress. It was dead despite its best efforts to kill the orange earth pony. He'd fought two monsters and Knick had come out victorious. 

Pushing against the large body of the monster Knick managed to roll it off of himself with all four legs working together. The heavy corpse rolled onto its back and Knick slowly got onto his feet. He hurt everywhere. His side, his legs and internally everything was a dull throb of pain. "Nu...trition... drink." He spoke the words as if they'd summon the bottle to him but it was more a command to himself. His head sorted through the bag until he found the bottle, pulling it out and setting it on the ground. Carefully he pulled out the cork and began to drink the medicinal liquid, tipping his head back to let it rush down his throat. He'd been parched as well from all the shouting. The bottle helped him in many ways. 

Sitting in the field and staring at an empty bottle Knick tried to both process and block out the fact that he had been as close to death this time as he'd ever been. His escape of the cyclops unicorn made him feel lucky. His victory over the smaller dog beast made him cocky for a short while. This thing here should have by all rights over powered him and ended his life. The fact he was still breathing and it was not was a miracle. 

In response to these thoughts Knick got up and pulled his ax from the neck of the great beast. Then began to cut into it with strikes. "I hate you!" He took out the ax again and cut into its flesh. "I hate you!" Again he ripped the blade from its spot in the monsters torso and Knick struck again with a splatter of blood. "I hate hate hate you!" He screamed and the dead monster's face, not that it reacted to him. Still the actions made him feel better somehow despite their pointlessness. 

When his breathing had calmed a bit Knick walked over to the bone the beast had been guarding and picked it up in hoof. Two down, one more to go. And then what? Assemble those skeleton ponies back together and go forward with whatever madness was waiting for him after that? Maybe a giant dog monster the size of a dragon would erupt from the depths of the woods and try to eat him next? That's assuming he survived the next battle. 

Looking forward Knick saw that there was a road leading out of this wide clearing. He realized that the clearing he was in was probably a field that served as a place for wagons to camp out at some point before this evil place had swallowed the forest up for its own purposes to torture ponies. The dirt road had trees on either side of it that served to keep its travelers on route and provide a canopy so the moonlight couldn't penetrate well into where it went. 

Knick just knew the giant dog beast was down that road waiting for him. It would have the final bone, the final key to his escape. It would want to battle him and consume his flesh like the other beasts up to this point. The same monster that desperately tried to eat him back on the cobblestone road. It was hungry and ready for his approach.

"Enough with these bucking games." Knick growled. These woods wanted to play games? Fine. He had a game they could play together. Knick approached the dead dog beast, pulling out his ax and cutting into the monsters flesh with it again. This time however Knick had a purpose as he started to set up for his second plan ever designed for killing something.

 

In the depths of the woods, stalking the dirt road that lead through the trees inside the forest was the huge dog abomination. Its jaws long and its teeth jagged, its eyes glowing red dots deeply set in the absurdly large shoulders on either side of its head. The monster stalked up and down the road, the bone of an oversize pony leg in its mouth as it walked. It patrolled and it waited for its prey to come down the road towards it. 

The beast tensed and stilled when light suddenly appeared on the road. It was the bright light of a flame and it moved in jagged, rapid motions. After spotting the movement the dog beast ran on all fours in the direction of the light and stopped suddenly when it came to the source; a burning piece of tree branch. 

The burning wood laid on the dirt road abandoned and the monster looked at it with its red eyes as if it couldn't make sense of it. But it did make sense of what was directly after it; meat. The beast lumbered forward and opened its jaws, managing to hold onto the pony bony in its mouth and scoop up the freshly cut meat into its jaws with its tongue. The dog beast swallowed the food that had been left out for it and sniffed the ground. There was more. 

Lumbering forward the monstrous abomination found a trail of meat slabs, each one freshly cut and every so often another burning piece of tree branch to provide a small amount of light for the road. Each time the monster found meat it sniffed the road and proceeded further, being rewarded with more to consume. Walking forward the beast was eventually lead by the trail to the old clearing that used to be a camp ground and a delicious sight waiting for it.

There was a bigger batch of burning branches now, much like a fire place that ponies would use when camping in the woods. Next to that fire was a pile of cut meat. It was raw and bloodied mostly, with a few cooked slaps resting on the top of the pile. The monster lumbered forward eagerly and panted, dropping the bone from its mouth as it did. Stopping before the pile of fresh food it began to chomp and chew it down with abandon, filling its hungry maw. It didn't hear the sound near by of a pony grunting quietly as it worked its torn muscles as hard as it could to spring its trap. It didn't notice until it was too late that the tree closest to the pile of meat had been cut into repeatedly with an ax till it was about to bend and fall. However it did hear the snapping of wood, and felt the crushing sensation at the tree trunk fell hard onto its body. 

The powerful muscles of the beast tried to lift the tree trunk off but it was very large. Knick had gone to some trouble to be sure and find the biggest tree he could use for this trap as well as still be able to cut through the trunk with his ax. Thankfully he hadn't passed out from the effort of putting all of this together. When the monster was trapped Knick Knack climbed onto the trunk and walked along it until he was over top the beast. 

He smiled, he couldn't help it. This thing that would have over powered and eaten him was at his mercy. Something about that was liberating. That life and death was no longer out of his hooves but within his control. As such he exercised this power and chose death for the monster. Dropping his ax between the dogs eyes with a mighty swing. It roared, stilled, and stopped moving altogether. Knick Knack had won his battle.

Pulling the ax out of the dog's head with a savage ripping motion he got off the log and retrieved his prize in the form of the bone. Securing it in his bag for himself Knick Knack walked back through the trail of the woods. He was tired, his leg was bloody and freshly wounded and his body was still in pain from the beating he'd taken and the hard labor he'd performed in setting his trap. Still that all paled in comparison to the rush he got over his victory. The sensation of winning a fight against an opponent and choosing whether they lived or died was intoxicating. It made him both excited and afraid with how much he enjoyed it. 

Arriving at the dirt road with the wagon again Knick went straight to task and approached the skeleton ponies. They seemed the same as he'd left them and he was thankful for that at least. The less surprises the better. Pulling out the bones Knick found that it was actually really easy to figure out where they went. Oddly enough the bones stuck right into place when he placed them onto the bodies. 

Three leg bones later the two earth pony skeletons were complete. Knick took a step back from his work and looked them over waiting for something to happen. "... so... you guys are welcome I guess?" Nothing. "Was there something I missed? I mean I thought I put everything back on right?" He looked over the skeleton figures but didn't see anything wrong. Suddenly his attention was brought upward as he felt something wet hit his head. Several things actually.

Looking up Knick could see that storm clouds were starting to come into the sky, nearly blocking out the moon that was providing light to him in this dark world. As they gathered the clouds bellowed with the sound of thunder and soon after rain started pouring onto the dirt road and three pony figures on it. Then the skeletons began to move. 

Their jaws opened up like they were taking their first breath in eons, their bodies shaking as their joints learned to move again. Soon the skeletons began to pull and move forward, leaving a soaking wet Knick Knack to watch in awe. As the skeletons pulled their wagon there was the sound of something hitting the wet dirt and Knick walked back to see what had fallen out of the wagon. 

"A record?" Strangely enough there was a record laying on the road. It must have fallen out of the wagon, along side it another silver candle. Knick gathered these things up in his bag recognizing that they were most likely meant for him. Looking forward he also saw that the bottom of the wagon had hidden another surprise; a hole. The exit out of this world. 

"Thank you!" Knick called out to the only friendly things he'd met in the world thus far. Perhaps they didn't have any intent to actually do something kind for him but their actions had helped him gain one step closer to getting out of this nightmare. "One more book, and hopefully this will be over." Knick prepared himself to drop into the hole.

"MARK!" Knick's body froze in place as he heard a mare's voice scream out in terror suddenly. He looked up to see that the wagon had stopped moving down the road just before the void of darkness. "Mark, Mark no!" The mare continued to scream and Knick felt the urge to run over and see what had happened to his skeleton friends when suddenly the wagon and its drivers exploded in a ball of light and flame. Knick shielded his eyes from the sudden flash and slowly looked up when it had ended.

At the end of the road where the wagon used to be was the cyclops unicorn. Its face was still covered by the flat mask that shielded its appearance, its horn sticking through it like a nail puncturing through something's flesh. That huge green eye staring down at Knick as it walked towards him. Each step seemed to cause electric veins to flash through its legs and up to its chest and neck. Each step echoing like the thunder in the clouds above. Knick watched horrified as it came his way and he was too afraid to do anything about it.

The hole was directly in front of him, in the ground no less. All he had to do was jump forward and he could escape down it and away from this monster. If he just leaned himself forward over the edge and tumbled into the tunnel he could leave these awful woods behind. Yet his legs refused to respond and his mind declined to let him form a plan of escape. All he could think of was that any sort of movement at all would get him killed in a flash just like the skeleton ponies.

The cyclops unicorn stood on the opposite side of the hole, looking down at Knick as if it were peering into his soul. It swung its tail and trails of smoke or ink seemed to flow off of its body as it moved. Knick's legs held him up for as long as he could before he couldn't stand it anymore. The stress had finally gotten to him and Knick felt his grasp on the world weaken as his mind retreated. He fainted and his body fell into the dark. He couldn't be strong anymore.


	11. Chapter 11

Knick's head rose up from the pillow with the large boom of thunder outside and a flash of lightning. He was breathing hard from the shock of the noise and looked around himself. Everything was so dark. Was he with the cyclops unicorn? Did it kill him, capture him? There wasn't any light anywhere! Knick rose up on his hooves and regretted the jarring movement when he did it, his leg reminding him of his injuries. So he was alive at least, otherwise why feel the pain? 

Lightning and thunder struck again, the bright flash lighting his surroundings up momentarily. He was back in his house. There wasn't a light source anywhere in his room but the flashes of lightning allowed enough to come in through the boarded up windows for him to see what was around. Knick waited for another flash and spotted next to his bed the woodspony's ax that had proven so useful to him back in the woods. Once he spotted his weapon Knick dug around in his saddle bag. 

He rooted around inside finding his two candles, the record and at the bottom his pack of matches that were still safe and dry. Everything seemed to be as it should (as much as anything should in this place). Laying back down on his bed he wondered what had happened exactly? The cyclops unicorn had approached him and destroyed the wagon that revealed his exit. Why didn't it kill him too? If it could blow up a whole wagon then killing a pony should be easy enough. Did he break some rule again when he cut down that tree? If that was the case then why didn't it attack right away? 

"Whatever." Knick was feeling irritable, angry and groggy. His wounds hurt but his head hurt more. The only satisfaction he'd gotten from all of this horrible experience was laying waste to those monsters that wanted him dead. Since then every step had been a stressful cornucopia of horrors designed from him to run from or murder to survive. 

Getting up Knick picked up his ax in mouth, feeling better keeping the sharp object close by than letting it lay in the dark where he could hurt himself on it. Knick turned and got ready to exit out of his room when he recalled his last prize and the one before that. Curious Knick turned to where he'd hung the picture of Nightmare Moon. It wouldn't be bad to look at a pretty (if evil) mare's face but also he was curious how this thing was destroying his home like the fridge and the abacus had.

Knick waited for the lightning to flash and when it did he saw her picture still hanging with the pulsating vines creeping out from it underneath the wallpaper. They were thicker than before and whatever was flowing through them was dripping out and staining both the wall and his dresser. How nice, now he had something else to avoid stepping in when he woke up. Also each time the lightning flashed he was sure the picture of Nightmare Moon moved. 

The frame was still in place, but she was moving inside of it. Sometimes smiling at him. Sometimes looking angry or malevolent. As if she knew he was watching her. Deciding that Knick didn't need to have his mind played with further and that she was fine where she was he turned and felt around the room until he found the bedroom door and then the stairs. 

Thankfully on the shop floor there was still enough room between the boards over the windows that the lightning let him see around this area too. The display with the school supplies showed bloody hoof prints all over it now and the decay of each item (except the abacus itself of course) had gotten worse. It was like each haunted item from the other world was trying to corrupt his home from the inside. He could only imagine what the kitchen looked like at this point. It had the most time to fester up and infect his home. "Time to add another one." Knick Knack waited for a few lightning strikes to help him see where he'd knocked down several display items earlier so he didn't trip. In short time he found himself directly in front of his record player.

He almost never used it, just a few times during store hours so that there would be something nice for his customers to listen to while they shopped. It was too bad whatever was happening to the rest of his house would happen to the player as well. Despite not getting much use it was in good shape and he was proud he'd bought it for such an affordable price when he found it. "Here we go." Knick reached out and placed the record on the player. Turning it on he set the needle down and backed up to let it play and do whatever else it was going to do.

"Stay... didn't listen... you don't deserve!... mine... shut up!... out of sight... Behave!... waste of flesh..." Knick listened to the odd voice speak through the record player. Maybe this should have creeped him out more but after everything he'd been through up until this point it was just annoying. "I'll take... they'll get you!... Star... Hide you maggot... I didn't deserve... disappointment..." Knick watched through the flashes of lightning as the record player began to peel off its paint and darken as if it had been through a fire. The device becoming dirty and stained and the stand it rested on growing ashy and black. "It should have been me... why can't we... loved you!" Knick waited a while but finally the random ranting record stopped with its confusing playback and Knick heard the clicking noise like a lock turning by his hooves. He looked down and saw that there was a trunk near by. 

"Finally." Knick opened up the trunk and felt around inside until he pulled the last book out. The final puzzle piece to this long torture. He looked it over but even with the flashes of lightning he couldn't read it correctly. "You know I've had enough wandering in the dark like an idiot." Knick closed the trunk and set the book on it, then pulled out one of his silver candles. About time he made use of them. Setting it on the stand next to the record player he carefully pulled out a match from the book and struck it against the floor. It came to life in a blaze and he used the flame to light the candle. Its odd silver glow providing a much easier way to see around the front desk of the store. 

"Okay, lets see... 'The Magic of Companionship', weird title." The book was lavender in color with a deep purple for the words imprinted onto the spine and cover. No wonder it was so hard to read in the dark. Knick prepared to run off with the book to its case when he heard something strange.

"It's really coming down isn't it?" A voice spoke up from the record player. "Did you want me to get you an umbrella?" It was a stallion's voice but it wasn't the same one from before, this was some other stallion. 

"No thanks dear, if you can take a little rain then I can too." That was a mare's voice. Actually it sounded somewhat familiar. "I think he fell asleep. Guess the rain did well to calm him down."

"Yeah. I'm sorry I made you both come with me on this trip. I know it isn't the most enjoyable." Come to think of it the stallion that was speaking sounded familiar to Knick too.

"Don't worry dear. We're together so I'm sure it will be all right. Maybe we can even do some tourist traps when we get there." Knick put the book down and sat in place as he listened to the apparent couple speak to one another through the record player. He was suddenly transfixed by their words. 

"I wouldn't mind spending some time for that. As long as... did you see something out there?" 

"What, out there in the road?" 

"Yes, I'm sure I saw a figure just now but... there it is again!" 

"Wait I see it now too. Do you think that's somepony traveling or..?" The was a suddenly louder clap of thunder than Knick expected as it rocked the outside and inside of his shop. Knick leaped to his feet in surprise. "MARK! "Mark, Mark no! Oh please no!" There was another sound of thunder clapping hard and then everything went quiet. Knick stared at the record player in the silver light for some time and his legs shook. A realization creeping up on him.

"Mom?" That voice. That mare's voice that he heard over the record player. He knew it from a long time ago. "Mom... mom what happened?" It didn't respond. The record was done and Knick Knack was alone again in the shop as the only voice that inhabited it. He wiped his eyes as tears were threatening to form and reminded himself that he had to stay strong. Something awful had happened to his family that he'd forgotten, he was now sure of that. Something terrible that he couldn't really recall but in time he was sure he would. Was that the point of all this?

Clearing his eyes Knick then noticed something about the record player itself; it was clean. The dirty exterior and burned appearance that it once held had vanished. Furthermore the candle he'd used was nearly melted away, holding stable at the size of a small tea light candle now. None of the wax had even dripped to the floor, it was if most of it had dissolved next to the haunted record player. To his surprise there was another sound of a click from the trunk near by and he looked at it curiously. "I thought I took care of you already?" The book was still out on the floor near by him, he'd dropped it when the record played its second recording. 

Pushing the trunk open Knick's eyes widened when he saw what was waiting for him inside. Reaching in with his mouth he pulled out by the handle a brilliantly beautiful looking silver dagger. It was clean, sharp looking and deadly. He closed the trunk again and set the dagger on top of it in awe. "What... in the world?" It looked similar to the blade that had held the ghost foal in place back at the cobblestone street home. But this was a lot easier to wield by the mouth or tail, he was sure he could use it as a weapon. Its short reach though made his ax a lot better of a choice. 

"I wonder..." Knick picked the blade up and found a safe place to secure it under the straps of his saddlebag that wouldn't cut him. He then loaded up the book of "The Magic of Companionship" and picked up his ax and walked over to the display of school supplies. Setting his ax down he reached into his bag and pulled out another silver candle, setting it down on the display by the abacus and lighting it with one of his matches. He watched the silver light make the inside of his shop brighter and the deteriorated state of his display revert. The bloody stains and hoofprints faded, the wood returned to its original dingy but healthier appearance, and everything seemed to calm down.

Knick's headache faded away as well. Being around the silver light seemed to make him feel better, though it didn't actually heal his wounds any. Soon though he was rewarded with another "click" of a lock turning and Knick opened up the cabinet door of the display stand to find another prize waiting for him inside. "Is that a hair clip?" 

Reaching in with his hoof Knick pulled out what was indeed a filly's hair clip. It was shaped like a mint leaf and it was shiny with a green splendor and a sliver outlining around its shape. It made even less sense to Knick than the silver dagger he'd found earlier but he wasn't one to question the purpose of odd items at this point. Tossing the hair clip into his saddle bag Knick looked over at the silver candle which had also melted down to that of a tiny, tea light candle size. It looked like whatever odd power the candle had against these haunted items was drained after they were used. 

"One more." Knick took the now smaller candle and set it on the check out counter, searching around behind it. After a bit of rummaging he found the last of his silver candles and pulled it up with his mouth, carrying the tea light candle that was already lit with one hoof. Hobbling around he made his way to the back into the kitchen. 

"Holding the smaller silver light up Knick could see the entire kitchen had succumbed to the refrigerator's curse. Everything was wet with a horrible red stain, as if someone had coated the walls and cabinets with blood. He was happy he got his matches previous to all of this happening. Although he didn't like it Knick walked over the filthy floors inside the kitchen and set the smaller silver candle next to the fridge. Nothing happened. "Figured as much. Only one thing to do now." 

Knick held the larger candle to the flame and set it down near the fridge, watching as if by magic the stains on the walls and floor began to revert back to their dull, dirty appearance from when he first woke up in this mockery of his home. As the blood and gory mess pulled itself back towards the fridge the appliance also began to change to its original state. Knick waited and was soon rewarded with the sound of something coming loose and falling on one of the racks inside the refrigerator itself. Knick carefully opened the door and pulled out his prize. 

"You better not be toying with me." Knick pulled out the most beautiful thing he'd seen in this world yet; an apple pie. It was large, its crust looked fresh and it felt warm to the touch despite being in the refrigerator. Knick didn't want to be stupid and sink his teeth into something that turned out to be pony meat or a substance equally as terrifying. Using a hoof he pulled at the edge of the crust and broke it to smell the contents inside. It was apple filling. 

Knick devoured the entire pie faster than he ever thought he could eat. It was the best meal he'd had in a long while. 

Stretching his sore legs out Knick found that he oddly felt pretty good. His body still hurt but it wasn't as bad as it had been and his headache was almost completely gone now. That pie must have really done the trick. Taking one of his tea light candles Knick walked back out into the shop and spotted his ax. It reminded him of what was coming next. "Can I keep this up?" 

He sighed taking a moment to ready himself. Each world had shown him more violence than the last, and each time he rose up to meet it with equal levels of violence. Back in the woods he'd planned the murder of two creatures and fought one savagely to the death. At the time he not only felt he could stand up to the monsters but he was delighting in his victories in a way he never thought he could. The death of those monsters made him happy. Now... could he kill again if he had to?

"Deal with problems as they come." It was something he'd been saying in some form or another since he started this nightmare. It kept him alive so far. Picking his ax up in mouth Knick started towards the book case. As he weaved through the aisles of product he realized that he hadn't checked his front door since the first time he found it chained up. And now he had an ax. Knick decided to skip the book case for a moment and hobbled to the front door instead, happy to have his small candle to see. The lightning strikes outside weren't very reliable for making his way around the dark store. 

When he got to the front of the store the door was the same as he'd left it. Chains strewn about every which way with pad locks securing it that needed keys to release them. If they'd been combination locks he could have just guessed at them till the door opened but as of the moment he still needed to figure out where the keys were at. Setting his ax down he noticed not everything was exactly as he'd left it.

The words "DON'T LET HIM SEE" were still scrawled along the inside of the door in red but they weren't the only words there now. Below them written in random directions and styles were also the words "I SUFFERED", below that was the insult he'd seen earlier of "NO-HORN". Even stranger were the words "SAVE ME" and then finally "COWARD". 

Knick wasn't sure what to make of all of it. He hadn't been to the front of the store since he first woke up here, was there someone visiting and putting these words here every time he left? Or had it happened each time he came back? "Doesn't matter, can't do much about it now." Still he used the candle to look around himself and be sure there wasn't some monster with a red paint brush sitting in the corner waiting to write something further. When he was satisfied there was no such thing Knick picked his ax up and walked back through the aisles to the book case. 

"Moment of truth." Setting the tea light candle down on the floor Knick set his ax near it and pulled out the book from his saddle bag. Sliding "The Magic of Companionship" into its spot the book fit perfectly and Knick waited for something to happen. Maybe confetti would drop from the ceiling and he'd get his prize for beating some puzzle game he'd secretly been part of from the beginning?

Something did start to occur though, behind the book case a red design began to imprint itself into the wall. It was a large circle with smaller circles inside and Knick began to realize seeing its edges that it was the same design as the imprint around the holes he used to travel between the other worlds. "Oh no, not again." He really didn't want to go through another set of awful evil worlds with monsters. "Haven't I done enough!?" 

In response to his question there was a sudden gust of air and Knick felt a powerful wind pushing him forward. It blew through some unknown source inside his shop and soon the force became so strong it cracked the book case. Knick realized it wasn't a wind blowing through the store but instead it was a vacuum pulling in from the hole itself. He tried to back up but it was useless, the wind became so strong that it splintered the book case entirely and pulled the broken furniture as well as all the books on it into the black void. Knick tried to run, making a reach for his ax but it was too late. The force of the vacuum had him and he was sucked into the dark void as well.


	12. Chapter 12

Knick Knack awoke from his forced journey through the horror hole and as he'd learned to do from past experiences waking up in an unknown location took a second to gather information about his surroundings. For once there was light outside, the shine of a sun through a thick overcast making it easy to see around him. The grass beneath his body informed him that he was outside and the smell and feel of humidity around him suggested it had rained some time ago. He was outside of his house. 

Lifting his head off the grass Knick Knack got to his feet and carefully looked around, seeing that there was a thick cover of fog surrounding the area. It made it annoying for traveling but at least this place looked far more friendly than the past several ones he'd been to. Closer observation showed that he was on a hill somewhere and there were many flowers planted near by. That's when it hit him.

"This is the flower field. I'm in the cemetery." He was standing on the hill that was just outside of Ponyville, the place where plots of different kinds of flowers marked the final resting place of many of the past citizens. Turning around to look at where he came from Knick Knack saw that there was an open grave behind him and peering down into it revealed it was much deeper than it first looked. He devised that must have been where he came from. "Forcing me to crawl in and out of a grave. This place can go to Tartarus." 

But if he was in the Ponyville cemetery then that meant he finally knew where he was and where to go. "Annie." Knick Knack trotted through the field and towards Sweet Apple Acres as quickly as his hooves would allow him to. Navigating through the deep mists to the familiar road he'd taken many times before. 

Surprisingly despite the thick fog cover his watch never went off to alert him of danger. There were no shadows in the mists and there was no noise to alert him of another being following his every move. The town was completely silent and he was confused by this fact. "Is everyone trapped in their homes like I was?" Maybe so. If that was the case then maybe he wasn't the only one that escaped. Knick had new purpose in finding his lover quickly and ensuring her and all of his friends were safe.

Passing through the gate onto the Apple Family property Knick moved carefully to see if he could find anyone. He still wasn't confident that this place was free of monsters and didn't want to attract the attention of any kind of threat lurking in the mist covered orchard. Soon Annie's house came into view and thankfully it wasn't boarded up or sealed off at the windows. Knick burst inside right away.

"Annie? Annie are you in here?" Knick closed the door behind himself and looked around. Everything seemed relatively normal despite it all having a dismal color of grey from the light outside. Things didn't look as bad as his shop had been though when he first woke up in it. "Annie? Mr. Smith? Mrs. Smith?" He wasn't thrilled at the idea of meeting Annie's father even under these conditions but anypony was better than nopony. "Aero? Is anyone here?" Silence.

"Great, guess it's just me. Maybe they all ran for town hall when this crazy weather started." Mayor Clarity was a pretty organized stallion and friends with Mr. Smith on top of it. It would be like them to gather everypony together to keep them safe. Still just to be sure. "Annie?" Knick walked upstairs to her room.

He'd been inside the Apple Family home before of course but not many times. He never felt welcome with how Annie's dad looked down on him. Usually he and Annie would spend time at his house together or some place else that was neutral ground in a sense. Still he at least recognized the house layout well enough to find his way around and up to his sweetheart's room. "Annie, are you in here?" 

She wasn't, the room was completely empty. However there was one thing that stood out. Sitting on the bed which was neatly made was Annie's hat. Knick walked over to it and put his hoof on it, confirming that yes it was real. "She left her hat behind? She never goes anywhere without it." It was a gift from her father when she started working on the farm with him. She loved this hat, he couldn't imagine she'd leave without it unless she was in a terrible hurry. Knick picked the hat up and found yet another surprise underneath. "A key?" 

Setting the hat aside Knick lifted up the key with his hoof and looked it over closely. It had a thick end to it with a symbol imprinted in the metal. That of a crescent moon with the thicker part of the crescent at the bottom and a comet over the top, making it looked like a closed eye. He knew that symbol and had seen it many times before. "It has Dreamer Dust's cutie mark on it."

The fact Knick found this key weighed heavily on him. The sudden fear that he wasn't actually outside of this terrible game yet seemed to be true if he was still finding clues that were leading him in specific directions. The only consolation of this would be that his friends weren't trapped in this horrible world with him. At least the safety of the town was still a possibility, which begged the question of where exactly was he then? 

Knick put Annie's hat on himself and found it made him feel surprisingly more comfortable. That was good since after he'd been pulled through the hole into this other Ponyville his ax hadn't made the trip with him. He still had the silver dagger firmly secured against his body under the straps of his saddle bag in case things got intense though. Tossing the key in his saddle bag after recognizing that he was going to need it Knick also noticed a note laying on the bed. He unfolded the paper and it looked as if it had been ripped from a book or a diary. "This looks like Annie's writing." 

"She wants what I have. Everyone says it, I don't want to believe it. But I know that she wants what I have. I wont let her take it from me. Stay locked in there forever for all I care." 

Knick read the words over but they didn't really make sense to him. He recognized it as Annie's writing but it didn't seem like something she'd ever think or say. Annie was pretty direct with most things and she never shied away from expressing herself. This seemed like the thoughts of someone who was bitter and paranoid. Regardless Knick folded the note up and put it in his bag as well. No telling what was useful in this place. 

He could have searched the rest of the house but he figured that was probably a waste of time. He doubted there would be much more that was useful in here after finding a clue directing him where to go. On top of that anypony that was still inside would have heard him by now. Knick strolled down the stairs again and back out the door, closing it behind him. There was only one place left to go. 

The walk back from Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville was very much the same walk he'd taken many times before aside from the thick fog. The path didn't diverge in strange directions, nothing seemed out of place or unusual. It was just so disturbingly quiet and lonely. All the doors to the other buildings were shut, the curtains were all drawn closed on the windows. He could probably break into a building had he really wanted to but it felt pointless. So even after entering the town limits Knick kept to his destination. 

Still there was something he wanted to try and he'd be going past there anyway. Walking through the fog Knick came to the place he was most curious about of all; his own shop. The outside of the building looked exactly like it should and the windows had no boards covering them up from the inside. Though their curtains were drawn closed and he couldn't peek in. Letting out a breath as he prepared himself Knick walked to the door and turned the handle.

It was locked.

"Son of a... my own house. I'm locked out of my own house." Knick beat on the door with his hoof, grumbling when it ached and remembering his burn. So instead he changed tactics. "Hey! Hey me or whoever is in there. Open up, this is my house. Let me in." Still nothing, Knick tried to look inside through the windows but they all had their curtains drawn closed tightly. He walked around the building and tried the back door which was also locked. "Hm... wait, this building has a back door." Remembering back to when he'd woken up in the other house Knick had tried going out the back door before and it was gone, with just a solid wall there. "So either that really was a very elaborate job of hiding it or this isn't my shop." Well... not his other shop anyway. This was getting too confusing to ponder right now. "Forget it." 

Knick rounded the house back to the street in frustration. He wasn't done with this place but he still had a clue to follow up on. He'd be back for it. 

The stroll down to Dreamer Dust's house was similar to the walk into Ponyville; foggy and uneventful. He was surprised there was such a lack of danger in this place and Knick wondered if he was somewhere else entirely from the dark places he'd been in before. Each location the hole in his bathroom had lead him to had been dark, filled with monsters and covered in filth. Ever since being forced through the hole behind the book case this silent, foggy Ponyville was completely different. There was daylight and nothing was trying to kill him. Yet anyway.

Knick stopped outside of Dreamer's door and tried looking through her windows but of course the curtains were drawn like every other house. Attempting the door on his own revealed it was locked and he expected the same result anywhere he went, aside from Sweet Apple Acres that was. Come to think of it that had been effortless to enter, as if someone knew that would be the very first place he'd go when Knick Knack arrived in Ponyville. Did whatever was part of this world know who Annie was? If it did would it use that against him? The idea of his friends being used to manipulate him further was more terrifying than any beast this place could throw at him. 

"Focus." Keep pushing forward and hopefully it wouldn't ever come to something like that. Knick pulled the key out to Dreamer's shop and naturally it fit and turned with no effort. However when Knick tried to remove the key it refused to pull out again. "Maybe... I'm not supposed to?" Not that it mattered, the key had served its purpose. Knick Knack opened the door to the fortune teller/book keeper's shop and entered. 

It was darker inside than he anticipated, though there was light coming in through the thin curtains. Walking in slowly Knick heard a noise that was familiar; the crying of a mare. "Dreamer? Are you in here?" Knick walked in further and the door slowly swung closed behind him. He stopped to let his eyes adjust to the darkened building and made the shape of a pony out farther back in the room. 

A mare was sitting on the floor, leaning over the couch that Knick had laid on the morning he'd come to visit Dreamer Dust for help with his problems with nightmares. She was completely white with a thick, curly mane of whites and greys. Her sobs were continuous and Knick recognized her as one of the ghostly unicorns he'd run across in all of the past worlds he'd traveled through. So there were monsters here waiting for him. 

There was something on the couch near the ghostly mare, Knick figured that naturally like the huge dogs he'd have to get whatever that was without dying like his game with the bones. He had his silver dagger and remembered how a similar knife had stopped the ghostly foal back on the cobblestone street home. Would this dagger work on her though? Knick looked around the room for options and spotted something useful. 

On the book case near the front door was a silver candle like he'd used back at his other shop on the haunted objects. He remembered that back in the train yard he'd lit one of these candles and when it got near the ghostly filly there she ran from it in fear. Maybe it would be the same for this one? He still had the haunted painting back in his shop though, should he save it for that purpose instead? 

Knick pondered it carefully and eventually decided that he'd just use the candle now. It seemed like a better idea than risking a fight with something that could kill him with a weapon that might not even work. He'd remembered the way the ghostly school filly had pulled at his legs and it felt like she was dragging the very life from his soul. Pulling out a match Knick struck it against the floor and used the flame to light the candle. It shined with a beautiful silver light. "Well, lets see if this works." 

Knick held the candle in one hoof and approached slowly towards the ghostly mare and the couch. The candle didn't drip wax thankfully and spared him the pain of getting it on his injured leg. As Knick got closer the mare got up on all fours and walked away from him. She kept her head diverted from his gaze and never stopped sobbing. Knick watched in amazement at how simple that had been. When she sat down facing a wall away from him he set the candle down between them and inspected the couch.

The couch itself was fine, a little dusty and old looking but no damage or stains. Knick noticed the painting above the couch that had originally been of Dreamer's spirits of dreams and nightmares was now completely blank. As if it had been erased entirely from this Ponyville. With how everything else had looked normal he wondered if that was something important? "Maybe she was right about those spirits existing. Guess this isn't any place for them." It was an odd thing to have left out. Other than that Knick looked down to find yet another key. This one he recognized clearly; it belonged to him. The one to his home. Beneath that was another page like something ripped from a book and Knick unfolded it to read.

"It was supposed to be us from the beginning. Through the darkness I was always able to find light with the two of us. Why did that have to be taken away? Why did you have to forget?" 

These notes were beginning to bother Knick. They felt like they were more important than just some scrawling designed to unnerve or scare him. He folded the paper up and put it in his saddle bag, looking at the ghostly mare. She hadn't moved from her place looking towards the wall. She was still crying. 

Knick picked up the silver candle and tried to approach her, coming up from her side. He saw what looked like a unicorn's horn but that was all, the mare turning away and walking to another part of the room. She stopped and sat facing the wall still sobbing to herself. Was she avoiding him because of the candle? Knick wasn't so sure, she made every attempt to hide her face from him. He considered putting it down to try and see her more closely but that seemed like an idiot trap waiting to kill him. 

"I don't know who you are... but you seem like you've suffered." She took in a breath and stopped crying when he spoke to her. "I'm not sure there's anything I can do for you to ease your pain, but try to understand I can't have you stopping me either." Knick walked towards the front door and set the candle down before it. "I'm going to have to leave this here with you. Please... don't hate me for it." He didn't know why he was saying these things to the ghost but it felt appropriate somehow. "Goodbye." She didn't say anything in response, she didn't turn his direction. She just stayed staring at the wall facing away from him. So Knick opened the door and left her there.

He walked away from the building and stopped a moment to look back and be sure she wasn't coming after him. When he was sure it was just him in the road and nopony else he sighed and continued on his way. Leaving her behind made him feel sad like he'd somehow made a mistake. Regardless he had another clue and another destination. He couldn't stop now. 

Knick found himself back in front of his shop again shortly, staring at the building intensely. As far as he was aware everything had been building up to this moment. It took several deep breaths and a very intent focus on his watch to be sure it made no sounds before he was confident enough to reach into his bag and pull out his key. Sliding it into the lock he gave it a turn and froze. His watch was silent. Unlike the key with Dreamer's house Knick was able to pull his out again and tossed it back into his bag. Carefully he opened the door into the building. 

It was completely calm inside. Knick walked in and looked around, seeing that everything was essentially how he remembered it. The stock was all the same though a bit dusty, the house was decorated how he'd left it back home back in the normal Ponyville. Nothing looked out of place. Still he wasn't convinced everything was completely fine. Walking into the building the door closed slowly behind him and Knick listened intently but there were no sounds. "Hello?" He called out wondering if maybe there was another ghostly figure waiting for him but nothing appeared. 

Deciding standing in the door way wasn't helping he proceeded into the store. Winding through the aisles that he'd always set up in their unusual way Knick made it to the check out counter and found two items he didn't recognize; a key ring and a letter. "The hay is all this?" Knick picked up the key ring and looked it over, not really sure what the point of such a thing was. Just to see if anything happened he pulled out his house key and attached it to the ring, waiting for a response but finding none occurred. Sticking both items into his bag he then turned his attention to the letter. It was addressed to a Mr. Check Mark.

"Hold on a second, this was for my grandfather." How strange, Knick had owned the shop for some time after his grandfather passed away, bless his soul. He hadn't seen a piece of mail for the old pony in years. The envelope was already open so Knick pulled out the letter that rest inside and read it to himself.

"Dear Mr. Check Mark,"

"During your unfortunate time of loss we wish to express our deepest sympathies to you and your remaining family. We know it's been hard on you having taken on this responsibility after the unfortunate deaths of-" The names were blacked out, as if someone had purposefully hidden them with dark ink. 

"In this time of tragedy we'd like to offer our services as best we can. With the paper work taken care of we wanted to inform you that transfer of legal guardianship of your grandson Knick Knack has been established and that all legal decisions for medical care and ownership of personal estates has been passed to you. Should any other issues arise with need for proper documentation or representation as Knick Knack's legal guardian please do not hesitate to reach out to us for help." 

"Sincerely the Department of Foster Care of Equestria"

"Wait... wait a minute... when was it that I moved in with grandpa?" Knick set the letter down and tried to think back. He remembered living with his grandfather when he was just a colt but... how long had he lived in Ponyville with him? For that matter why did he move in with his grandfather? It seemed like evidence was pointing to the fact that Check Mark was all that was left of Knick Knack's next of kin but he still didn't know how or when things got to that point. Let alone the reason why. For as long as Knick could remember he'd lived in Ponyville with all his friends. 

"So what are you trying to tell me!?" Knick shouted at the ceiling, to the heavens themselves. "What, that my parents died? That something happened to them? So what? Ponies die everyday. What was the point of all of this?" Knick grabbed the letter and held it up. "Yeah, I moved in with my grandfather. Big deal, what does that mean anyway? What am I supposed to understand from all of this?" He looked around the building waiting for something to burst out, scream or drop from the sky but nothing happened. "Is this it?" He dropped the letter on the ground. "Is this really all there is to it? My parents died and my grandfather inherited me and my 'estates'. What 'estates' did we have? I'M the one that inherited this shop when HE died!" 

Knick sat on the floor glaring down at the piece of paper. All this trouble over something so meaningless. Sure he couldn't remember as to what had happened that resulted in him moving in with his grandfather but if the point of his trip through all these places had been to remind him it had failed rather completely. "I'm leaving. I'm done. To hay with all of this and with you. Whatever you are." Knick got up and walked to the exit. "I'm going back to my shop and I'm chopping that door down if I have to." Knick opened the door to the shop and went outside. Nothing got in his way as he did. 

Before he'd been afraid but now he was mad. The only explanation previously had been there was a point to all of this but if there was one he didn't see it. His parents died and his life had started over when he moved in with his grandfather. If reminding him that his previous family had perished was the point of all this then why even bring him here? He figured that out when he listened to the record. Then there was the key ring and Annie's hat, the only things he'd still had from this strange Ponyville. "Waste of time." Other than that there was the ghostly mare back in Dreamer's house. He felt bad for her though, she hadn't tried to attack him. Was she the reason he was supposed to be here? "Maybe I should take that candle out of her house. I might even be able to bring it back with me." 

Suddenly it started. It was low at first, so low that Knick didn't realize it was happening right away but as time went on the sound grew louder and louder. Knick stopped and looked back towards the town he was walking away from. "A siren?" The sound was unmistakable, there was a siren sounding off in the distance. Its shrill cry growing louder and louder. "Ponyville doesn't have a siren." He peered off over the horizon to see where it might be mounted at that it was sounding from. It had to be on a building's roof to reach this far out. With the deep fog though the attempt proved fruitless to make out such details.

He didn't see a siren but there was something in the distance he could make out. Dark clouds were seeping in as if they were quickly rolling over the sky. Knick's eyes widened as the blaring siren reached the height of its cries and the world around him grew darker. Beneath him the earth itself started to peel and burn as if it were being consumed by flame and turning to ash. "Oh no. Oh no oh no!" Knick turned to run the other way but it was happening all around him. Ponyville was being consumed by darkness. Knick froze as everything went black and impossibly quiet. 

Nothing happened for a while, he couldn't even hear the sound of his own breathing. Was he dead? Knick dared to take a step forward and when he did the lanterns along the streets of the town began to slowly light with a dim flame. It was the only light he was afforded as the world started to come back into view. 

Everything was wrong. The buildings were charred and burned, boarded up and abandoned looking. The street was a horrible ashy grey and the ashes seemed to be now falling from the sky like snow as the lamp lights made things easier for him to make out. Knick swallowed a lump in his throat seeing the thing that filled him with the most dread of all. Most of the doors on the buildings had become the blue door from the cobblestone street house. Knick was surrounded by them. 

Slowly turning his head Knick looked back to see that his own shop had also adopted the new door way. To his horror the door slowly opened with a loud creaking noise that filled the quiet street. A large black hoof stepped out, its leg pulsing with electric energy. 

Knick turned and ran. 

After seeing what that monster had done in the past the idea of out running it seemed fruitless but Knick Knack didn't stop to consider it. Instead he pushed his aching body as hard as he could out of town. Around him the blue doors all began to open, each one swinging forward with a slow and loud creek and releasing Celestia knows what into the town. Knick heard things behind him, things that wanted his flesh. He didn't stop to see what they were. 

The street lamps blazed to life as Knick passed them, feeling the vibrations in the earth as whatever was behind him was building in force. It was like every terror imaginable had become one large embodiment of his fear with the soul purpose of killing him. Somewhere in his heart he refused to give in. Taking a precious second to pull Annie's hat low over his face Knick pushed himself beyond all his current limits and ran past the town and up the flower covered hill. 

It was ironic that he was running to a graveyard for salvation but he couldn't think of anywhere else to go that would offer him safety. Sweet Apple Acres was too far away and there was no guarantee those walls would protect him or even be open to him any longer. Knick pushed himself up the hill and felt something grab at his tail. It motivated him to run harder. 

As Knick came up to the point of the hill where he'd woken up he beat his hooves against the ground. Crossing over the other plots of flowers where other ponies had laid to rest he saw the open grave he'd been sleeping by. Ducking his head down and getting ready to leap into the hole Annie's hat suddenly flipped off of his head and onto the grass. Knick cursed every curse a pony knew as he turned and kept his head down, reaching out with his hoof to grab the hat. His wasn't the only one that did. 

On the opposite side of the hat the black hoof held it down against the ground. Knick looked on helplessly as his head craned upward and saw the cyclops unicorn standing over him, tall and fearsome. Behind him down the hill was a mass of something that Knick Knack didn't want to look at for fear of going mad at the sight of it. As if whatever wicked force had been fueling this nightmare was waiting for him to be delivered to it by this courier of death. The tip of the monster unicorn's horn lit up as it prepared to snuff Knick out there amongst the other dead ponies with its powerful strike. 

In desperation Knick reached back and grabbed his silver dagger with his mouth. He swung his head around and cut at the cyclops unicorn's leg, causing it to rear back and scream in pain with an unearthly howl. Its horn misfired the electric blast into the darkened sky and through the clouds. The vibrations of the black mass behind the unicorn warned him as it began to sweep forward towards them both on the hill. Knick didn't hesitate to see what it was, instead grabbing his lover's hat and rolling his body into the black grave. He looked up to see the large single eye of the unicorn monster staring down at him as he fell into the darkness and away from what was in that doppelganger version of his home.

Somehow despite it all Knick smiled back at that eye. He'd escaped them. He beat death.


	13. Chapter 13

The first noise he heard was a sound like paper being crunched together. As if there was somepony crumpling it between their hooves over and over again. As his awareness returned Knick realized it wasn't a dream but an actual sound he was listening to. Knick lifted his head from the pillow and looked over at the source of the disturbance to his slumber.

There was a foggy daylight outside his windows again, allowing enough light to come in for him to see what was happening in his room. The vines that had crept from the portrait of Nightmare Moon had extended themselves all along the far wall of his bedroom. The crinkling noise came from the ends of the vines pushing the wall paper away from the wood in an attempt to spread further outward. The moist tendrils left stains all along the wall and frankly the smell wasn't pleasant either. 

"Guess I should have used one of those candles on you." Knick grumbled as he awoke to the awful sight. Looking around he found the silver knife, his ax and Annie's hat all resting neatly nearby the bed. Sitting up on the covers Knick checked his saddle bag and found the only contents left; the key ring, the mint leaf hair clip and his box of matches. 

He sat on the covers for some time considering his next move. While he was very happy to have escaped the horrors of the imposter version of Ponyville he was now at a loss. What was he supposed to do? He collected all the books, went through both horror holes, and escaped both locations to come back. However he had come back through the same way he had gone into the other Ponyville. "Am I going to have to go there again?" That wasn't a pleasant thought as he'd barely escaped there before. Could he survive another visit to that terrible place? 

Getting off the bed he stretched his sore muscles as best as he was able to. Picking up the silver knife he slipped it back into place under the straps of the saddle bag. Next was securing the hat onto his head and picking up his ax in mouth. If he was going to go back he was going to do so fully armed. Maybe he'd get lucky and find another candle as well. Knick got ready to head downstairs when he noticed something. 

Setting his ax on the bed Knick approached his near by closet. The door had been opened and actually had been so since he'd first woken up in this strange building. However he never paid it any mind due to it very clearly having nothing interesting inside. But now as he approached he saw a peg that he'd never installed in his closet before sticking out from the wall.

"Is that a hat hook?" It was really the only thing that made sense for it. Knick didn't have a whole lot of clothes he kept and the ones he did were either kept in the dresser or placed on hangers for when needed them. He pulled Annie's hat off his head and looked it over. Maybe he was supposed to bring this back with him? He didn't like the idea that something so special to his heart would create something evil but he knew how this game was played. Maybe he was reading too much into it and it wouldn't do anything. Not every thing he brought back from that world had haunted his home.

Knick walked up to the closet and sat the hat on the hook, backing up to see what would happen. He waited a moment and looked around the room for something to start acting crazy or change. When nothing seemed to show Knick walked up to take the hat back off the hook. His hoof froze in place though as he reached forward and suddenly a shadow passed over the closet door. 

Knick spun around and grabbed hold of his ax, looking for the source of the shadow. He tensed up getting ready for a fight to begin but there was nothing there. The bedroom wasn't that big and anything able to cast a shadow over the wall would have been easy to spot. Knick turned to reach out for the hat again and what he saw made his jaw drop and the ax fall to the floor. 

It was Annie. Or rather her shadow. It was sitting in the closet, being cast by nothing at all. Knick was able to wave his hand over the light source, his own shadow covering up hers in the closet but never disturbing her. It was as if she was in the room with him but couldn't see him there. Knick swallowed a lump in his throat seeing the outline of the mare he loved and wanted more than anything in this world to be with. Her image directly before him yet he was unable to do anything about it. "Annie?" Click.

From under the bed there was the sound of a lock turning. Knick looked down confused at what that could have been. Lowering himself down he looked underneath the bed skirt and found a small jewelry box that he'd never seen before. Pulling it out with his hoof Knick also picked up his ax and set them both on the bed. Opening the jewelry box he discovered his newest prize waiting for him; four small keys.

He pulled the keys out one by one and looked them over. They weren't very large and wouldn't be useful for a door. Reaching into his bag he pulled out the key ring and just by simple observation thought to put all four keys onto the ring. Once they were fitted he jingled them on his hoof. "Well this is an odd one. What am I supposed to do with all of you?" Knick glanced over at Annie's shadow again, letting the reality sink into him. This wasn't Annie, it was just another hideous thing designed to plague his mind and frighten him. He wasn't interested in being toyed with further than he already had been.

Turning away from the bed Knick Knack walked for the bathroom and the hole waiting inside there. With how dangerous the hole downstairs had been he thought perhaps the one here in the bathroom would take him somewhere appropriate to his next task. He had hoped anyway, he was running out of places for this horrible collection of his to sit on display in his home. As he readied to enter the hole he encountered another surprise; it was sealed up.

It wasn't just covered with boards like the windows or had an obstruction blocking the path. The hole was sealed up with cement. The red outlines of where the hole had been was still engraved into the wall however the opening was completely blocked. Knick walked up to the wall and ran his hoof over the surface, it felt like it had been there for quite some time and hardened completely. "Well... guess we're not using this exit." 

Knick exited the bathroom and made his way downstairs. With the appearance of the new hole he figured that must have meant the old one was no longer of any use. At least that made it easier to figure out where he was supposed to go. "Hopefully I wont end up in that horrible Ponyville again." Knick took a moment to inspect his record player and the display of school supplies when he got to ground level. Thankfully they seemed to have fully recovered from the effects of the haunted items he'd placed on them. If he could find more candles maybe he could take care of the other ones as well. Not that he understood why it was happening or what getting rid of them would do in the first place. But having less horrible things in the place he was reappearing in repeatedly would be nice. 

Strolling through the aisles Knick Knack approached where the book case had been destroyed and sucked into the hole to the other world. There were still items all over the floor from when the wind tunnel effect had occurred and pulled him through to the other side. As he got closer he saw the red lines that had magically dug themselves into the wall and another layer of cement in the shape of a circle inside those lines. "Are you serious?" 

He ran his hoof over the wall again and found it was completely solid. The holes to the other world were all blocked off now. Knick let his hoof slide off the wall and stared at it dumbfounded. What was he supposed to do now? All his exits had been forcefully removed from him. Maybe the monsters got sick of him invading their world over and over? That didn't make much sense. Then why have him take back the hat and give him those keys? What purpose did they serve? "Well I guess I could cut down the door like I threatened before or..." Wait a moment.

Knick got up and walked straight to the front door of his shop. Looking over the chains that bound it shut he counted the amount of pad locks keeping him sealed in; four. Four padlocks bound the chains tightly together. He had four brand new keys on a key ring that he'd just collected and now his previous exits were sealed off. As if this wasn't all enough of an indication as to what to do next there was yet another new word written in red at the bottom of the door. "Remember". 

Knick pulled out the key ring and stared at the door. This was the moment he'd been waiting for all of this time. He'd fought, killed, been injured and terrified all for these keys and this moment of freedom. Now it before him and with a few turns of a lock he'd escape this prison.

So why was he so scared? 

Deciding that standing there like a statue wasn't going to get him anywhere Knick mustered up his courage and approached the door. It took some trial and error but with the help of the keys the chains all snapped free from their tension. One by one they fell to the side with a metal jingle until the door itself was free of the obstruction. Knick used his house key he'd received from the other world to unlock the door handle itself and turned it, pulling it open with a slow creak.

Knick really had no idea what he was expecting on the opposite side of the door. He'd assumed it may have actually released him back out onto the streets of the real Ponyville. Perhaps it would be onto the street of the Other Ponyville he'd walked through, or a different spot there altogether. Or maybe it would just hold yet another beast to consume his flesh viciously. As the door swung open though Knick peered through the entry way and saw a field of black as far as the eye could see.

He was very confused by the dark void until he looked down and saw a stair case. Peeking his head into the door way the staircase spiraled down through the dark void onto what looked like a platform made of earth hanging in limbo. Knick backed up and peeked through one of the cracks of his store window, seeing the foggy streets outside but nothing else. He then tried looking out the sides of the door way but it all just stretched out into darkness farther than he could comprehend. "Really why am I so surprised?" He sighed and stepped onto the stair case. It didn't break, it would support his decent. 

As Knick walked down the stairs he felt somehow isolated as dread crept up inside him. He had a feeling he wouldn't be going back into that house again. Where ever this lead he was going down and he was going to have to crawl out again to get back home. He planned on doing just that if it came to it. Walking all the way through the dark void Knick found himself on the floating piece of earth and of course the blue door in the golden frame was standing there waiting for him. 

Every other time he'd seen this doorway there was a terrible monster waiting on the other side of it for any opportunity to come for him. Now though Knick figured it must have served a different purpose. Or maybe it was now serving its intended purpose all along without the monster to bar him entrance. Knick reached out and turned the handle to the blue door with the gold trim, and entered. 

Walking through the door he was more than a little confused; it was on a train. It wasn't just a train car like back in the abandoned field, this care was moving. He could feel it bouncing along the rails as it moved forward beneath his hooves. Knick looked back through the door way to see the black void behind him leading into no where. He sighed and walked forward, the door slowly closing behind him. It had served its purpose. 

Knick didn't get very far at all before coming across an open passenger booth for guests on the train, which was much cleaner than the others he'd been on before in the other world. There was a dismal sunlight pushing through heavy fog that shined its way through the windows into the train car. Knick was grateful as it made it easy to see where he was going. Walking into the booth Knick Knack saw on one of the benches inside was a book. Strolling up to it he looked over the cover and saw it said "War in the Stars." 

"Hey, I know this book. I used to love reading these stories when I was younger." He hadn't expected to find a book he recognized in this place. Every other book he had discovered was something he'd never seen before and had no time to read. This was the first one he'd not only known but read before. Knick was curious about the small piece of literature that reminded him of his past and reached out for it. He immediately regretted it as a flash of light began to take over his senses. 

**********

The young colt was laying on his back staring up at the ceiling of the passenger's booth of the train. He let out a sigh and blew some of his blond mane out of his eyes. He'd been eager to go traveling with his parents as they were visiting different locations for the authors his father represented. However the getting there part was always the the worst bit of it. He usually tried to spend most of it napping but by now he was bored of that too. So with nothing else available he was left to contemplate what he was going to do when he finally did arrive in the next town with his folks. All the while looking around the passenger's booth for anything interesting besides the window. 

As you can imagine it was quite a relief to the colt when the door to the booth was opened and a pony his own age walked in. "Dreamer Dust!" He exclaimed and rolled over onto his hooves, walking forward with a bright smile. The violet unicorn filly with the pretty pink mane smiled back, wearing a green hair clip of a mint leaf in her hair. Neither of them had their cutie marks yet but it was only a matter of time before they each finally discovered their talents. The two friends greeted each other with a hug and Knick looked up to see her somewhat imposing father follow her into the room. "Hello Mr. Ink Blot." 

"Greetings Knick Knack, do you mind if Dreamer stays with you for a while? I'm sure she'd be bored to death if she was forced to stay in a room with myself." Dreamer smiled shyly towards Knick, not speaking out of turn when her father spoke. Before Knick could reply though a mare earth pony walked into the booth too. Her coat was a deep purple unlike Dreamer's lighter violet one and her mane had streaks of yellow and violet through it. 

"Of course Knick wouldn't mind spending some time with Dreamer. He's been looking forward to seeing his friend ever since we started this trip. Isn't that right Knicky?" The mare nuzzled Knick's face and Dreamer giggled at how embarrassed Knick look. 

"Yeah yeah, okay mom. I don't mind if Dreamer stays here with me." Knick tried to act tough in front of his friend and that just made his mother laugh lightly herself. When she entered Ink Blot's attention had turned from his daughter towards Knick's mother fully.

"Twinkle Star, it has been too long since we've seen each other." 

"It's only been a few weeks, Ink. Mark is waiting in our own booth when you're ready to see him. He's excited to present your new book." Ink nodded understandingly to the mare, a small smile never leaving his face. Knick noted that Dreamer Dust's father never seemed to smile unless Knick's mother was around. Not even when he was talking to Dreamer herself. 

"Yes, Book Mark always was more enthusiastic at these events than myself. Much better at public speaking too. I always preferred more meaningful one on one conversations." The way he said it made Knick kinda... well oddly cautious. He looked to Dreamer to see if she was thinking the same thing but noted her eyes were on him only.

"Well you can get a one on two when we get back to the booth." Twinkle joked lightly and then turned to her son, giving him a nuzzle. "You two behave now while we're gone. I'll come by to check on you later and get you set up with lunch." 

"Okay mom." Knick responded lovingly despite the embarrassment of having his mother fawn over him so.

"Yes Mrs. Twinkle Star." Dreamer Dust replied politely which earned her a nuzzle from Knick's mother as well. Twinkle turned to leave the car and Ink Blot looked down at his daughter seriously.

"On your best behavior now. I'll see you soon." 

"Yes daddy." Dreamer said obediently and Ink Blot nodded, leaving them in the passenger booth after the door closed. Once he was gone Knick Knack turned eagerly to his filly friend.

"Boy am I glad that you decided to come with your dad to this book signing thing. I would have gone crazy if I'd been stuck in here for another minute without somepony to talk to." Dreamer giggled and reached back, taking off a saddle bag she'd been wearing when she entered. As she tossed it onto the bench it opened a bit to reveal books inside. "What's all that." 

"Magic books. Daddy says I shouldn't neglect my studies just because we're going on a trip." Made sense, as a unicorn magic was something she studied pretty regularly. Most of the Canterlot schools specialized in it. Knick was a student there too but as an earth pony he usually had to take different classes than Dreamer Dust. They had some together too but Canterlot was a big place with a big school where they had to make time for each other if they wanted it. "Did you want to read one of them?" 

"Aww you know I can't do magic. But now that you're here there is something we can do together." 

"What is it?" Dreamer's eyes lit up at the suggestion, excited at the prospect of spending some time with her friend. Her smile lowered though as he walked over to the door and slid it open, looking down the hall way to see if there were any adults coming their way.

"Lets explore the train!" Knick Knack said it with enthusiasm but Dreamer Dust just looked disappointed. She backed up looking away from Knick.

"Oh... but... my daddy said we should behave." Knick knew he'd landed Dreamer in trouble in the past with her father because of his antics but that had been forever ago. Now that they'd grown up some he figured she'd be a little braver.

"He wont know, we'll head towards the back. All the regular ponies ride in the coach cars and they wont mind if we just walk around and say hi." Knick approached with a reassuring tone but Dreamer still didn't look convinced. "As long as we don't go walking through first class they wont see us." 

"My daddy will know... he always knows." Dreamer said almost a bit fearful and Knick was surprised at her. Sure her father was a little scary but he didn't think she was actually afraid of him. "He always knows everywhere I go. That way nothing bad will happen to me." 

"You don't have to be scared, I'm with you. I'll keep you safe from anything bad that comes our way." Knick puffed his chest to try and look heroic as this usually seemed to be enough to convince her to go along with whatever plan he might have. But this time she just got up on the bench where he'd been sitting before and laid herself down on it.

"I'm sorry Knicky... I really want to go with you. But my daddy will get mad. Besides, what if the Pony Snatchers find us if we wander away too far?" Knick rolled his eyes at the suggestion. Not this again. 

"Dreamer Dust, don't you think you're a little old to believe in stories about Pony Snatchers?" He teased her a bit but Dreamer didn't even look upset with him. She just continued to look fearful. 

"They're real." She simply stated. 

"Dreamer Dust, there's no such things as Pony Snatchers. Even if there were I'd protect you from-"

"They're real, I've seen them." Knick stopped and looked at her seriously. It was the first he'd heard of her actually spotting one of these monsters before. "They have long claws for gripping onto ponies, and pulling them into their dens. And large eyes for finding them in the dark." She spoke each word in a hushed tone as if speaking of them would summon them here. "So please... don't leave me." Knick just watched dumbfounded for a while, curious as to how she could be so convinced that these creatures were real. He sat on the bench across from her and Dreamer looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Where did you see them?" She looked up again and stared for a while. "When you saw them, where was it? When did you see them?" She looked off for a while and sighed as she gathered her thoughts. 

"It wasn't long after my birthday, when my daddy gave me this hair clip. He said it was to remind me of my mother." He knew so little about her mother, Minty Sweet. Just that she'd met her father a long time ago and that she'd passed away after giving birth to Dreamer Dust. He guessed it must have been difficult for her and her father being left behind like that. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose his mom. "I was coming home from school and some of my friends said they wanted me to come over to play. I knew I was supposed to go home and be there when my daddy got back from shopping. But I didn't get invited out often so I went anyway. It was a lot of fun." She smiled fondly on that memory.

"But when I started heading home it was already dark. That's when they appeared. At first... at first I didn't know what it was. It was coming out from the side of the building and I thought it was a pony or maybe a lost animal but... it was too big." She shivered lightly at the thought of the monster. "It was big and its arm was so long. It reached out for me. It wanted to eat me! I ran as fast as I could back home and when I arrived I told my daddy what had happened. He wasn't angry but he... he was disappointed in me. He said that's why I'm not supposed to go where he says I shouldn't. So I don't want to disobey daddy again." Knick listened intently to the story, wondering if such beasts really did inside the boundaries of Canterlot of all places. After a while he sighed defeated. He couldn't leave his best friend now just to explore because he was bored.

"So what kind of books you got there?" He asked and Dreamer smiled a little that he was deciding to stick by her. She dumped the books out of her bag and sorted through them.

"Um... most are school books but I got some story ones too. One's about a duchess that marries a farmer." Knick made a gagged face at the idea of a romance novel and Dreamer giggled a little. "Well... I got one that's a science fiction story. It's pretty exciting." She handed over the book over to Knick as he read the title of "War in the Stars." 

"Well, I like action stories." 

**********

When he was able to move his body again Knick pulled his hoof away from the book in a quick motion and backed up from it. He set the ax onto the floor of the train car and sat, staring at the book wide eyed. "What... what was that!?" It was a memory, obviously. One about him from when he was just a little colt. But it didn't make any sense at all. "When... how could... no. No no no. I can't have lived in Canterlot, I would have remembered that at some point. Right?" He asked no pony at all and as expected no answer came for him. Leaving him to come to conclusions on his own.

His mother's name was Twinkle Star and she was very pretty. He couldn't remember his father's face no matter how hard he tried but now he knew that his name was Book Mark. Now that he was grasping memories of them again he couldn't believe he'd ever forgotten his family. His mother was so sweet and loving and kind, why would he ever want to lose anything associated with her? Seeing her face again had been nice but focusing on his mother kept him from acknowledging the real shock; he'd known Dreamer Dust when they were little.

Knick reached into his saddle bag and pulled out the green hair clip of a mint leaf. It had been hers. Back in the real Ponyville Knick remembered when Dreamer Dust had first moved into town. He'd been the stallion in charge of the Curiosity Shop after his grandfather has passed away and everyone was curious about the new unicorn that moved to town. Dreamer had always been bubbly and outgoing, everyone made friends with her easily despite her being different because of her magical talents. She became a part of their circle of friends quickly. So why didn't she remember him?

"Did she forget like me? Did something happen to us that we didn't remember our pasts anymore?" The more he thought about it the more Knick realized he never spoke about his past before he moved to Ponyville. To him there had just never been anything to say as he didn't really recall anything before the time he moved there. Dreamer had been pretty similar with the way she always avoided talking about specifics from her time before moving there. But she did have a few stories of when she lived in Canterlot and was growing up there. "Did she lie about not knowing me?" 

That seemed oddest of all if it was true. Knick Knack had always suspected secretly that there was a possibility Dreamer Dust had a crush on him. She was very friendly towards Knick and was never shy about getting close to him. Knick just figured he was seeing things that weren't there and for the sake of his relationship with Annie never dwelt on the idea of it. But now knowing that they shared a past together things were so much more complicated. 

"We have a lot to talk about when I get out of here." Knick put the hair clip back in his saddle bag. There was a mystery to solve but he'd have to approach it some other time. While it was a shock that the unicorn next door was actually his foalhood friend he was more interested in his parents and how he could find out more about them. "Dreamer's dad was kind of creepy though. I'm positive he was checking out my mother." He guess that made sense; his mother was pretty and from what he could remember Dreamer Dust's mother had passed away giving birth to her. "I guess he was just lonely." Maybe he and his daughter both were.

Knick picked his ax up again and stepped out of the passenger booth. The train car wasn't that long and the next exit going up was close by. Walking down the hallway Knick slid open the door that was to lead to the next train car and saw the black void before him. At his hooves was a spiral staircase going down into the abyss. Guess he was on the right track. 

Knick proceeded down the stairs as carefully as the first set. He didn't want to risk falling off the staircase and into the black pit. That would be an awfully stupid way to die after everything he'd survived up until now. His steps echoed against the vast nothing until he reached the patch of earth floating in the void with the same blue door with the gold trim. Bracing himself he lifted his hoof and turned the handle, opening the door to enter the next mysterious location.

Walking through this door released him into a school class room. Knick proceeded inside and looked around carefully for any sign of danger, the door closing slowly behind him as he did. He noted there hadn't been any sign of a threat from his watch since he exited his shop through the black void. Perhaps where ever he was those monsters couldn't follow or reach him here? Keeping his ax close at the ready he walked further into the classroom. 

The windows let in sunlight through a thick cloud of fog outside. He wasn't sure if he'd see somepony out there even if they pressed themselves to the glass. It made it easier to navigate though as he walked along side the rows of desks and stopped when he found a book. Setting down his ax he looked it over. "Hey now, this is a guidebook for that Laboratories and Lasers game." 

Similarly to the game board he'd seen set up in the dark other world school he'd been forced to walk through previously here now was a rule book for the game itself. It was the only book in the whole classroom and the only thing that stood out amongst the drab interior. Knick sighed staring down at it. Since he'd already gone down a spiral stair case into this room he had an idea what purpose the book would serve. Reaching out with his hoof Knick placed it on the rule book and let the white light take him through to another memory.

**********

Knick Knack looked over his options as he had a very important decision to make. One that would decide the fate of not only his own life... but the lives of those around him. As he reviewed the choices carefully he finally came to a decision with clarity of what should be done. "I choose the Ice Ray." 

"You're sure?" The other pony across from him asked seriously. "Once you make this choice, there's no going back." Knick nodded in agreement.

"The Ice Ray, no doubt." The Pony lowered his head to read the text before him and then looked around to the group of colts. 

"Very well then, you take the Ice Ray and continue on your journey into the laboratory of Doctor Ponsano. The Ice Ray gives you an attack bonus of 30 and an additional freezing effect to all opponents. Hydrolic and Steam opponents take an extra plus five damage." 

"That's why Knick's the Engineer on the team. This colt always picks the best equipment." An Earth Pony on Knick's right side of the table commented, nose deep in a comic book as usual. The brown colored colt wore a fedora on his head and had glasses before his eyes from all the intense reading he did. His cutie mark that of a lock around two chains with a key, a talent for picking and building locks being part of his family.

"Bucking A, Knick! Lets get in that lab and kick some flank!" The colorfully speaking earth pony on his left encouraged, who possibly had the most patriotic cutie mark you'd ever seen. Amber Joe's mark was that of a shield with the symbol of Equestria itself emblazoned on it. His body covered in an amber coat like his name with a short, slicked back black mane. Joe always seemed like a pony of action and energy and Knick figured he'd eventually find his way into the royal guard. He just hoped his enthusiasm didn't get him in trouble one of these days. Joe had a reputation of being angry.

"Alright guys, ready to meet the Science Master? I'm telling you now no matter how well your characters are equipped, Doctor Ponsano is going to throw you for a loop." The fairly cheerful unicorn smiled from behind his game board that covered his books and sheets. As the Lab Director or LD of the games they played he was always looking for a new challenge to throw at his friends and they ate it up. The green unicorn with the dark brown, unkempt mane was one of the few good unicorn friends the earth ponies had. But here it didn't matter if they were unicorns, pegasi or earth ponies; here they were gamers. The green unicorn with the cutie mark of a spoon lit up his horn with magic and rolled some dice behind the board. "Roll for initiative." 

"Hey hold up a sec Spoony, doesn't Knick have to get going real quick?" Spoony was the nick name Table Spoon had earned a while back, having a talent in cooking that ran through his family. Joe looked annoyed they were interrupted but Link was right, time had slipped past Knick and he hadn't noticed. 

"Sorry guys, don't mean to hold things up. I'll be back before lunch is over." Knick stood up from the table and gathered his saddle bag. The quartet usually met in the home room for their class on their lunch hour every chance they got, eager to continue their game together. It was a bit of a hassle to set up and put away all within lunch time but they'd gotten good at it and were able to play after school when time allowed. 

"Well we wouldn't want you to keep your marefriend waiting now, would we?" Table Spoon commented and it got a small laugh out of the other two earth ponies in the room. Knick rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"She's not my marefriend, we've been over this a dozen times. She's just a friend who's a mare. Heck we've been like brother and sister since we were little." 

"Except you're not brother and sister, and she's pretty hot." Spoony exclaimed and Link Lock nodded in agreement. "And the two of you meet every day to say hi to each other, alone behind the gym where no one can see you. And you're always in a hurry to make sure you don't disappoint her." The trio of males were all looking at Knick with Table Spoon's repeated points and Knick rolled his eyes again.

"Fine, believe whatever you like. If you want to think she's my marefriend, go ahead. I'm sure the school will be in an uproar." He did always try to meet her in private but Knick didn't think it was so she could get alone time with him. Rather he figured that she just... didn't want to be seen with an earth pony. They already were pretty rare in Canterlot and even with their history as kids Knick knew that it was a reputation killer to hang out with him. Link, Joe and himself were lucky Spoony was as much of a nerd as they all were. 

"Hey I don't see what the flank you're so upset over. I mean she's really good looking, and she's bucking good at magic." Joe chimed in agreement with Table Spoon. 

"Not to mention talented and hangs out with all the popular unicorns." Of course there were clicks in school, and naturally the earth ponies were left out of the most prestigious of groups at every chance for their lack of magical abilities. 

"Plus she looks really good in a school uniform and is the president of the magic club." Table Spoony came back with the final thoughts. "Huh... now that I think about it why did we think she'd be your marefriend? You're no where near her league." 

"I'll be back." Verbal jabs from his buddies aside he needed to get a move on. Knick left the school room and walked through the halls to head outside and to his destination. There were a few students in the hallways at lunch, a teacher here and there. The teacher's all dressed in fine clothing for their prestigious ranks and every student, Knick included, in the proper school uniform. For the boys it was relatively easy; a blue jacket worn over a white shirt with a tie. Knick wouldn't mind it so much if the tie wasn't such a pain in the flank every morning to put on. The girls though... that was something different.

They wore similar but slimmer jackets and white shirts but instead of a red tie they wore a red bow around their necks. Cute enough but it was the bottom attire of skirts that often caught a colt's attention. Knick was getting to the age that he was looking at fillies differently than he used to. They were usually pretty but now... now they were PRETTY! Not just pretty but also sexy. Those uniforms did nothing to hinder the thoughts either. Usually most ponies walked around without clothes aside from some accessories and that was fine but those skirts always brought attention to their flanks and haunches and by Celestia if it didn't just beg a colt to look. The worst being any filly actually daring enough to wear panties. That was something you didn't put on unless you really wanted to hide something or really wanted attention paid to it. The school had rules about those kinds of things though. 

Two unicorn school fillies were walking by at this moment and once they passed Knick turned his head a little to watch them go by. It was a nice sight until they both looked back at him, catching him in the act. They whispered something to each other and had a laugh at his expense before trotting off. The comment of "no-horn" was overheard and he looked down at the floor as he went out the door. A bit of teasing from his friends was okay, but the outright disrespect he got as an earth pony in an almost all unicorn school was down right awful. It was bad enough he had to take different classed because he wasn't able to study magic but the constant reminder he was different dug at him.

Heading through the practice field there were a couple of unicorn colts that watched him go by, being sure to give him a glare to remind him he wasn't welcome to stay for anything longer than a pass through. Earth pony in a unicorn school was already tough, earth pony meeting with a pretty unicorn filly was enough to get his flank kicked by the older colts that thought he didn't belong here in the first place. Aside from the few cherished friends, Knick hated it here. 

Finally out of eye sight from the crowd Knick popped around the corner to encounter a pretty filly face right in his. "You came!" She exclaimed with a smile.

"Of course, I didn't keep you waiting did I?" 

"You never have, Knicky." Dreamer Dust giggled as she used her nick name for Knick Knack. She was always a pretty pony and age had just made her prettier as time went on. He tried not to think about her as anything more than a friend but it was hard at times. She was of course wearing the school uniform and had her green mint leaf hair clip in her pink mane. On her flank was the cutie mark of a shooting star passing over top a crescent moon, making it look like a closed eye. Dreamer had discovered her talent for helping people find their dreams and desires around the time Knick had earned his cutie mark of a magnifying glass and his talent of appraising things. 

"Oh yeah, so I don't forget my mom got you something." He craned his head back and pulled out a small bag with his mouth. She used her magic to take it from him so he could speak. "They're chocolate-mint cookies. She was making a batch and wanted to be sure I got some to you." 

"Thank you Knicky, your mom is always so nice to me." She said the words with a longing tone and placed the wrapped cookies into her own saddle bag. "So are you going to be going with your father to his next client's book signing? It's not that far away, right?"

"Nah, probably not. I'll only go if mom wants to go and even then I might stay behind. They'd have to get the wagon together to bring all the luggage for the trip for three of us and I don't think my dad will want to go to all that trouble." Usually Knick did enjoy going on these trips to different places with his father when ever he got the chance, but he knew there were practical reasons he probably wouldn't go. Plus if he stayed behind he could get in more games of Laboratories and Lasers with his friends over the weekend.

"Don't want to leave your board games do you?" Knick blushed that he'd been seen through so easily and Dreamer Dust laughed a little. "Knew it!"

"Hey now don't blame me. I'd hang out with you if you weren't so busy studying or being super popular with all the after school activities." Dreamer Dust tried to keep her smile up but Knick had known her long enough to see when it was forced. "So um... is your dad still having writer's block?" She nodded slowly.

"Daddy just stays in that study of his most the day, coming out for dinner or sometimes just giving me money for dinner myself. But he still doesn't want me staying out too late unless I'm with an after school club or like with someone he knows." She kicked some pebbles with her hooves absent-minded way and Knick frowned. He didn't like seeing her depressed but he knew how much of a control freak her dad was. Stemming from losing his wife Knick was sure. "Did your father like the present we got him for his birthday?" 

"That pocket watch? Yeah, dad actually has it on him all the time now. I think he feels like he looks more distinguished with it or something?" That got Dreamer to smile which made Knick Knack feel a bit better. The two stood there a little awkwardly before Knick decided he should probably excuse himself to get back to his friends. As he was getting ready to speak up Dreamer Dust beat him to it. 

"Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we'd been closer?" Dreamer suddenly asked and frankly the question confused Knick to no end. Closer? She was already one of his best friends, how much closer could she get. 

"Like what do you mean?" Knick asked cautiously and despite the hesitation in her voice Dreamer moved forward.

"If we had been like brother and sister." She paused to let the words come to her as she spoke them. "Not as if you had been a unicorn too but like what if my dad had married your mom, and we'd grown up together. Do you think our lives would have been different?" Knick stopped to wonder not on her question but why she would be asking something like this. It seemed totally out of the blue and he couldn't pin down what she was trying to get at. He sighed looking for the safest way to proceed.

"Well... I guess it wouldn't be too different than now, right? I mean you're already like a sibling to me, we've known each other so long. Other than maybe having to share a room and toys as kids it would have been pretty much the same." Knick Knack smiled and Dreamer smiled back but he could see there was something more underlying with all of this. She just nodded. 

"I suppose you're right. I mean... it was a silly question, sorry." 

"No it's okay, nothing wrong with it." 

"Besides if we were brother and sister that would have limited us huh?" Now Knick was really confused and it must have been apparent on his face because Dreamer continued. "Like if we were siblings then we couldn't be anything more than friends... even if it was just our folks married to each other. Because that would have been weird, right?" Knick was beginning to get uncomfortable with this line of thought and he decided to say the words that he knew would stop her from speaking further on it.

"Yeah, I guess so. Not to mention that my mom is still married to my dad too." Dreamer looked at him a little hurt then away. He knew... he knew that would just remind her of how she'd never had a mom growing up herself. The closest thing being his own mother for her. But he didn't want things to get carried away. "Well I don't want to keep the guys waiting, I should probably get go-" Dreamer's head suddenly raised up by his own and she kissed him on the cheek, stopping Knick dead in his tracks.

"Goodbye Knicky." Dreamer Dust said suddenly and turned running away, disappearing around her side of the gym. Knick just stood there shocked, putting a hoof against his face where his best friend had kissed him and not sure what to think of it at all. 

**********

When his senses came back Knick pulled his hoof away from the book slowly and stood there staring at it. His memories were coming back in pieces around the one he'd just viewed, re-learning about all of the ponies he'd known back then. His close friends in the Canterlot school, the clicks and popular ponies that mocked him for not being a unicorn as well as the teachers and his school life. As it filled in though he tried to process what he'd just learned. "Dreamer Dust was in love with me."

The idea of it seemed too obvious to just ignore. His unicorn friend and best friend from his foalhood had been in love with him, maybe since they were little. She seemed so sad too when he talked to her, getting a distant look any time he brought up either of their families. He wondered what her home life was like, not able to recall any time he'd ever spent with her at her home together. Not all of his memories had returned yet it seemed. But he did recall she was a very popular girl in school and was usually active and cheerful. It wasn't all just a cover up for her real feelings was it?

"She was the one talking to me. In the train yard and the school house, it was her voice that I heard when I was there." Some things were all starting to come together, such as who the source of those whispers from a female had been. Just knowing their origin though didn't help explain the significance to him. Should he have recalled Dreamer's relationship with him sooner? Furthermore she'd mentioned something else that caught his attention.

Knick reached into his bag again and pulled out the old pocket watch that had always warned him of danger lurking near by. The watch had saved him more than a few times now, but there was more to it than that. When Knick pressed on the release button for the lid covering the clock face it still refused to open. Regardless he recognized it now, more familiar in his mind when he pictured it attached to a vest on a tall stallion. This had been his father's watch. His father's old accessory had been protecting him this entire time. 

Knick put the watch away, reaching out to pick up his ax and standing still after he did. He intended to move on but all of this was a lot to soak in. He knew his parents were Twinkle Star and Book Mark. He knew that he'd been friends with Dreamer Dust when they were kids and she quite possibly had loved him. Were they lovers secretly? Had Knick done something to harm her in the past and they both forgot about it? That didn't seem right as he figured Dreamer would have hated him even after seemingly forgetting who he was. Back in Ponyville the only thing that kept her from cuddling up to him was the threat of Annie's hoof in her face.

Knick's emotions were all mixed up now. Before his heart had been set on getting home to his love and escaping this terrible place. But now that his past was unfolding before him could he just ignore this? What if when he got back Dreamer suddenly remembered what had happened too? She was a good friend now but they had such a history. Could things be the same between them? 

"You'll do what's best for them." His confidence wavered but he tried to stick true to his resolve. Once he got home he'd figure out how to help himself and Dreamer Dust with all of these past memories. Then he'd sort it all out with her and then sort everything out with Annie's family. "Don't think Black Smith can call me a scared little colt anymore after all this." After fighting all these monsters Knick didn't know if he'd be hard as steel or a nervous wreck when he escaped back to his home. 

Walking towards the opposite side of the long class room there was another door for him to exit through. Pulling at the handle revealed another spiral stair case leading downward to another hunk of floating earth with a yest another blue door in a gold frame. Knick was more casual as he walked this time, finding these things easier to do with repetition. Looking back on his time in the other world Knick was lucky when he was at the foggy train yard that the giant dog beast or the vile mares weren't the first monsters to greet him. Had they been his first opponents he may have died before ever leaving that first death trap of a convoluted puzzle. 

Approaching the door Knick let out a breath and turned the handle, pushing the door open and stepping through into another world of grey filtered sunlight. This was very different this time around though when Knick stepped out because his hooves hit dirt when he did. He was outside this time, on the street where he'd started his run through the woods and fought with the three giant dog monsters. Behind him the door swung shut and Knick saw it was in a gigantic tree trunk that completely blocked to road. 

Much like the dirt road of the other forest there was a covered wagon parked there. Though this one didn't have any giant skeleton drivers to pull it along. Just past it was another gigantic tree trunk that blocked the road and had an odd cut in the middle of it, with a branch acting as a door handle to pull it open. He figured that must have been his escape into whatever was after this place. How odd this insane world fit into a sort of logic after he had time to absorb it. 

Knick walked around to the front of the wagon and sitting at the opening by the reigns was a book titled "Hoofbeat". He didn't recognize it at all by the title but the book's color and shape was familiar to him. Why was that? It wasn't one of the books from his shop when he was solving the puzzles. Looking around himself there was a field next to the road that let off into the deep woods, also like the dark woods with the blank faced moon he'd ran through. When he was sure nothing was going to jump out at him from the woods themselves Knick reached out and touched "Hoofbeat".

**********

"I still wish we had just taken the train." The purple mare with the yellow and violet streaked mane complained as she walked down the dark road, pulling a covered wagon behind her. "It would have been a lot safer and we would have gotten there much quicker." She wasn't the only one pulling the wagon however as the burgundy stallion with the frizzy brown mane trotted along next to her sharing the weight. 

"I know honey but it just would have been too expensive. The cost of transporting all of this cargo and our luggage would have been too high when we could just do it ourselves." The mare let out a sigh and she was nuzzled by her husband, who responded with a nuzzle of affection back. 

"I know I just get cranky when I have to walk all this way. When we get to the hotel I'm going to sleep like a rock." The mare let out a yawn. 

"Do you want me to take over for you mom? I can pull the wagon." A young male voice spoke up from inside the wagon and an orange face with a blond mane popped out. "It's no trouble." 

"That's okay Knicky, your mom just likes to complain." Twinkle Star said to her son with a smile. "It makes me feel better." 

"Only as long as there's somepony to hear it. Lucky for me it's such a lovely voice doing all that complaining." Book Mark got a little nudge from his wife for his comment though the two of them were smiling. "Are you doing okay back there Knick?"

"Yeah, I'm just reading." Knick admitted though it was hard to hide that he was kind of bored on this trip. 

"What one are you reading, studying for school?" Of course Knick's mom would ask such a thing. She always wanted him to study hard despite him not really seeing the point. After all as an earth pony in Canterlot he didn't know what kind of future exactly would be lined up for him. 

"Not really, I was just reading about the Mare in the Moon is all." Knick looked at the few pages in his book that talked about the two great sisters of Equestria's origin and Luna's tragic downfall from her own depression. He didn't understand how anypony couldn't have appreciated her starry nights. He thought they were beautiful. 

"Again? You really like that story don't you?" His father commented looking back at him and Knick just shrugged in response. 

"I guess, I just wish there was more about Princess Luna in the history books. I mean it seems like there are no other stories about her other than the story of Nightmare Moon. Even then it's just ghost stories for Nightmare Night." Knick complained out loud as he lamented the sorry state of the story he wished he could read more about. His mother looked at him with a smirk.

"I understand wanting to know more about the mysterious and the unknown. Studying the stars is something that I enjoy doing myself after all." The constellation of the big dipper cutie mark his mother wore showed off her talent for not only identifying the patterns of the celestial lights in the sky but being able to guide herself by the stars themselves. "I think if I could I'd like to meet Princess Luna. If she were to ever return to us. Just to thank her for what she had brought to us all every night since she left." Knick looked up at the starry sky as well, then at the Mare in the Moon. He wondered how she was doing up there? If she did come back would she no longer be the evil being that had been banished?

"I still say if you wrote a book identifying all the constellations you'd sell a lot of copies." Book Mark spoke up looking at his wife. Being that his business was as a publisher and recognizing his wife's talent he always encouraged her to share her knowledge with the rest of Equestria.

"Honey, you know how presumptuous that would be? What if I got them wrong? What if Princess Celestia called me out for trying to move in on her sister's domain?" Book Mark rolled his eyes.

"I think the Princess would be happy to see someone take an interest in Princess Luna's old work." Knick Knack let out a big yawn that interrupted the couple as they talked. "Also I think you should take advantage of getting a nap back there with the product." 

"I'm fine." Knick stated trying to argue against being sent to bed like a foal.

"Knicky you should sleep, you got up early this morning for school. You need it more than anypony else." Knick grumbled but his mother's kind tone was enough to defeat his protests. 

"Okay okay, I'll go lay down." Knick leaned up and got a kiss on his head from his mother before he moved back. "Night mom, Night dad. Remember you can ask me to pull the cart for you if you get too tired." 

"Of course." His mother agreed with a smile as Knick slipped back into the dark of the covered wagon. He'd made a small spot for himself amongst the books his father was transporting to Trottingdale for sale. It was tough having to both publish the books and be the one to transport them but it did help save money in the long run and expand his business elsewhere. 

Knick let out a large yawn again, curling up and feeling his eyes close. Maybe he was tired... a little nap wouldn't hurt after all...

"MARK!" Knick suddenly sat up hearing his mother's scream. He looked around himself noticing things were different than when he'd rested his head. The road and cover of the wagon was battered with the sound of raindrops, the moon light from outside was obscured by rain clouds. He must have fallen asleep, how long had he been out cold? He was sure he heard his mother's terrified sobs just outside the wagon. "Mark, Mark no! Oh please no! Please don't leave me! Plea-" There was a suddenly bright flash from the front of the wagon, his mother's words were cut short. 

Knick sat in the wagon completely terrified. He had no idea what was going and he didn't know what he should do. Something clearly awful had happened and he wanted to go see his parents but he was too scared to move. Instead his head laid down on the floor of the wagon, shaking and unable to comprehend what was going on around him. Then he heard it... steps. Something was outside and it was getting closer. 

Knick's body froze and he felt terror seize his heart. He didn't know what could be out there but he knew whatever it was it wanted to kill and the idea of it paralyzed him. As his body refused to move Knick's eyes looked upward to see a rip in the cloth of the wagon cover. At first he only saw shadows outside in the rainy road but then the lightning flashed and thunder boomed and he saw it.

One large eye was staring through the hole in the wagon, staring inside and peering directly towards him. Knick's eyes saw it looking at him and the sight was gone as quickly as it appeared with the passing of the lightning. He laid still even after it had looked at him, not sure if it noticed him amongst all of the books or not. He wanted to run. He wanted his mother and father. He wanted to be free of this terrifying moment. So his mind gave him that freedom as it buckled under the stress of the world around him, and his eyes rolled back into his head as he passed out. 

**********

Knick gasped for air like he'd been holding his breath when the vision passed, backing up and dropping the ax on the ground from his mouth. His body was shaking and his eyes wide as the memory filled him and refused to let itself fade. His mother and father... he finally got to see them both again. He finally got to remember their voices and faces, reclaiming something that he had not even known he'd lost. Then as he was reminded of this he was shown how it had all been ripped away from him during that stormy night. 

Knick wanted to beat his hooves against the earth in rage but he was too shocked from the flood of memory, the old emotions over taking him and his anger. The paralyzing fear that he'd felt as a young colt on a road trip with his family gripped his heart tightly. He opened his mouth to scream but he couldn't. All he could do was fight the urge to just fall over and sleep. When he was breathing returned to normal finally he knew he had won that fight against his emotions shutting him down completely. 

"They were murdered." That was what he'd forgotten, what he'd suspected all this time but hadn't been positive of. His mother and father had been killed and he had nearly been taken with them. Somehow whatever had done it didn't realize he was in the wagon. Or at least he didn't think it had. After he blacked out in his memory he couldn't recall what happened next. 

Tears wanted to burst but Knick held them in and used it to fuel his anger. Something had killed his parents and he bet something in this world knew what. He intended to find out. Knick picked his ax up again and turned towards the door in the other giant tree trunk. 

As Knick approached he stopped suddenly and looked to the woods. This was the same place as before from when he was in the dark world. The luggage and books from this wagon had been drug to the small camp site with the fire and the rope around the tree. He imagined it was probably still there. 

He didn't know why but Knick went into the woods. It was probably nothing though, he'd already discovered in this place what the blue door wanted to show him. There was probably nothing more out here to find. Crushing dead leaves under injured hooves Knick continued to downplay the importance of walking off the directed path. He was sure he'd run into a wall or a barrier or some kind soon. 

Finding the old path he'd taken into the woods before Knick walked along it and sure enough there was a patch of thorn covered bushes blocking his advance. Though his road block happened to stop right after the small camp site. Dreadfully Knick looked in on the area. There was no luggage messily thrown about and the fire was out cold. However in the fire place was another copy of "Hoofbeat" that was singed as if it had been burned. The noose Knick had cut up and tossed in the fire was back around the tree as well.

He didn't want to. He didn't want to know anymore than he'd already learned. He'd rediscovered his best friend and his family and watched on as he recalled how his mother and father had been taken from him. What could this memory possibly be? They'd already been killed. Did he stay the night out here after their deaths? He didn't even want to speculate what the noose could mean tied around the trunk of the tree. 

Yet, still, his leg reached out and he touched the book on the fire. To his regret the memory began to flood over him.

**********

"Give them back!" Knick wailed into the approaching evening as he felt his air being choked out of him with every pull of resistance. "Give them back to me! Let them go, give them to me!" Knick pulled hard at the rope around his neck. The thick cord securing him tightly to the tree trunk and fashioned into a noose so as to keep him in place. It didn't stop him however from pleading with his captors. 

"Shut up pony, I'm eating!" The dog with the bandanna around his eye and the red vest complained and smacked Knick across the face. The colt fell to the ground and watched on horrified as the dogs proceeded to cook and devour his parents in front of him. Their flesh was consumed down to the very bone and the dogs had taken to devouring them slowly all the way into the night. He protested, begged and pleaded with them to leave his parents be but they paid him no mind. Except to hit him when he became too annoying to listen to. 

"Pony tastes very good." The littlest dog said, his shirt stained red from the original white color it had been earlier. "It shame we can't eat pony more often." It licked one of the bones clean and tossed it aside. Knick scrambled towards it and with great effort pulled the bone to himself with his hoof, nearly choking himself on the noose around his neck. As the dogs ate his family they discarded the bones apathetically. Each time they did Knick went out of his way to collect them and hold them tight. It was all he had left of his family. 

"Why not eat more pony? Why not eat this pony?" The dog in the vest said pointing at Knick happily. "We keep it. We keep this pony and we can eat him later too! Why not find more ponies on the road to eat?" The dog in the vest stood up and approached Knick, the colt holding the bones of his parents tightly as he cowered underneath the beast. "How does young pony meat taste? I bet it soft and easy to chew" The dog reached down and grabbed Knick by the mane. He cried out in pain until the largest dog punched the one in the vest, causing the smaller one to fall over into the dirt from the strike. Satisfied with his display of strength and dominance the largest dog sat down to continue his meal. The lesser beast glaring at Knick like it was his fault but returning to his seat obediently.

When Knick was sure the dog wasn't going to attack him again he got to work, using the bones to try and assemble his mother and father back together. It was difficult not to feel like he was going crazy but as long as Knick didn't think about what he was doing he was fine. Instead focusing on creating his only emotional support from the scraps left by his captors. The largest dog finished with his limb and tossed the bone aside out of Knick's reach. He tried to reach for it.

"Please!" Knick begged as he extended his hoof. "Please, give it back to me. I can put them together. Please just let me have them back." The largest dog not wanting to listen to the colt's cries tossed the bone to him, Knick quickly going about finding the right place to put it on his skeletal parents. "Don't worry mom, I can fix you. I'll put you back together. I promise. I love you." He couldn't feel it but the tears began anew as they ran down his face.

**********

Knick pulled his hoof back from the fire place and stepped away from it. Setting his ax on the ground he laid down himself and let the tears finally come to his eyes. "Oh no..." Unable to support himself he rolled onto his side and stared at nothing, his mind whirling from what he'd just seen. "They ate them." 

Tears came but Knick couldn't cry properly, his mind trying to deal with what he learned. To process the emotions of a terrified young colt that watched helplessly as his family was mutilated before him. How could anypony stay sane after something like that? You'd have to... "Forget everything about who you were." That was it. Now he understood why he couldn't remember his past. He'd pushed it out to survive. Just like every other terror in this world he'd put it behind him to survive in the moment. 

His legs curled up against him, he couldn't just forget anymore. "Mom, Dad... I'm so sorry I couldn't save you." Murdered. Eaten. Tortured. What was left for this pile of a sad pony in the dirt to do? Could he possibly keep going forward after this? There was another door that would lead him down another staircase. Could he possibly handle what had happened after all of this? Could it even get worse? 

"Annie. Have to get to Annie." Knick didn't really know what to think anymore. Something about his past was tied to Dreamer Dust. Somewhere in his past his parents had been killed and defiled before him. He didn't think he could do this by himself but there was a light at the end of this tunnel. At the end of all of these tunnels he'd crawled through. He had to reach it. So Knick pulled himself up onto his hooves, his body never feeling heavier than right now. He picked up his ax and he turned out of the woods. 

Knick nurtured his anger, it was the only escape he had left. He couldn't just accept what had happened and move on like his life would be okay after this. For once he had to confront the issues of his past instead of moving beyond them. He would take these memories and use them to cut a path home. Fighting anything that stood in his way without pause or rest. 

He could be weak after that, when that beautiful green pony held him again.

Finally exiting the woods and making it back to the road Knick opened the door quickly and found a stair case exactly like he expected. Proceeding downward Knick found himself before another blue door in a gold frame. Where would this one take him? Back to Ponyville? Maybe the cobblestone street he'd first encountered that giant dog beast in? No matter what it was going to be Knick reached out and pulled the handle, walking into the room before him. 

What he found next wasn't anything he had expected. The floor of this room was made of wood but it was dirty and unorganized. The walls of this very large space were decorated with shredded portraits and damaged book cases scattered about everywhere. Chairs and desks thrown aside into corners as if someone had scrambled quickly to make a clearing in the excessively large looking lobby. It was big enough to compete with a ballroom in space. Also Knick wasn't alone.

The cyclops unicorn was waiting for him, its black inky body easy to see from the fire light of several chandeliers hanging from the roof with bright lamps. Its large horrifying eye plastered in the center of the flat surface of the mask that rested on its face. It wasn't just the unicorn though, it had brought guests. 

The ghost unicorns were all present for the main event as well. Each one of them was tied by a chain around their necks to the wall farthest away from where Knick had entered. The ghostly foal, filly and school filly all pulled at their chains desperately. They tried to escape with tired moans and frightened wails. Only the ghostly unicorn mare with the long grey hair draped over her face stood still. She didn't move or pull or even complain vocally, instead seeming to accept her fate. Knick wasn't of the same mind as her. With a heavy swing downward Knick plunged the ax into the wooden floor. Making a sound that echoed loud enough to get all of their attention. 

"I can't say I'm surprised to see you." Knick addressed the large monster who was looking between Knick's weapon and the pony himself. "After all you've been watching me all of this time. Coming out to see me whenever the time proved right. It only made sense you'd be behind this door when I came through. There was one thing though that I never took the time to consider until now. See I'd never had a moment to really think on all of these things that had been happening without some underlying terror trying to steal my life. But now a big question is occurring to me that I need to have answered; who are you?" The cyclops unicorn tilted its head as if it were interested in Knick's words, something Knick Knack found interesting in itself. This monster could reason or at least recognize speech.

"Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean what you are. I'm fairly certain of what you are in that there's no way for me to be certain of what that is. Just you seem to be a part or a piece of all of this place. Maybe the one running the whole show, who's to say? But I mean who is that?" Knick pointed to the mask, the cyclops blinking for the first time and it was so odd to see it blink where there were no eyelids to shut the eye. It was like a moving picture made of flesh. "That isn't your face. I can understand that much now, you're hiding something from me. Not to mention if you wanted me dead you could have easily killed me four times earlier. But you never did, why is that?" The cyclops unicorn made a rumbling noise, like a dog growling and a thunder cloud echoing inside a tin can. It was unnatural.

"That make you angry? Me questioning you? Good." Knick glared at the monster, the eye on its mask was twitching in place now as it looked at him. "I hope you feel a fraction of the anger I feel right now that you've caused me. Understand that I don't know why you spared me so many times but I wont see it as a kindness. You're standing between me and freedom and I will do anything to get home to Annie." The unicorn's mouth opened slowly and a hissing noise came from it. "Maybe you had to save me for this moment but that'll be your last mistake. I'm leaving this place, through you if need be." Knick reached down with his mouth and yanked the ax back up into his teeth. He steadied himself to charge, the cyclops unicorn doing the same and the tip of its horn glowed. There was a crack of thunder as the bright flash of energy shot forward, the beast releasing a lightning like destructive blast. Knick dodged it.

He ignored the pain in his torso and hooves as he ran around the monster, the unicorn turning its head and charging another blast. It fired and burnt the ground where it struck but Knick had dodged it again. He grinned around his ax; he could do this. 

While Knick ran the ghost unicorns all reached out for him. Knick was careful to be sure they didn't touch his body remembering the draining feeling the school filly had caused when she embraced him. Still with all of their pulling the ghostly mare didn't move, she just watched through the thick cover of her mane hiding her face. He didn't know why but there wasn't time to question it. Expose the face of the monster and then you can expose the other. 

The cyclops unicorn continued to try and assault Knick, looking to back him into a corner but for its size it just wasn't as fast at the orange pony. Knick was surprised it was this easy to outmaneuver the monster, the large lobby like room they were in giving him lots of places to run. At this distance he could time the blasts of the unicorns magic and move before it hit him. While that was fine for escaping the attacks he didn't know how he was going to defeat it like this. 

He had to get closer, there was no other way. Running around to give himself the most distance away from the black monster Knick backed up into a corner of the room and steadied his legs. He was going to charge in. He waited for the black monster to light up the tip of its dark horn and when it unleashed the lightning blast Knick moved. Running forward at the one eyed beast and zig-zagging his approach to make it harder to hit him. Soon he'd cut that mask off and reveal his/her face. He was half way there, readying his ax Knick dodged to the left but there was no blast of magic on his right. The cyclops unicorn had held its attack in. By the time Knick understood that it delayed itself on purpose there was a bright flash and a crack of thunder as an explosion erupted around the orange pony. 

Knick's body slid along the dirty wooden floor towards his tormentor's front hooves. The ghostly unicorns wailed louder than ever, the ghostly mare pulling at her chain for the first time as she saw Knick fall. His coat was singed and there were cuts about him from the explosion of wooden splinters. His tail was singed badly as was his mane. His legs had curled up against his body and his teeth still grasped hard around the ax. Knick was on the ground unmoving. The black monster began to approach Knick's body, walking slowly as all the ghostly ponies watched on and pulled at their chains. They cried out loud as the black beast stood above the orange pony and raised its hoof over his head, bringing it down with a crushing stomp.

Knick smiled around the handle of his ax, pulling his head away at the last moment before having it crushed beneath the monster's powerful stomp. Swinging his neck around Knick sliced at the monsters leg, sinking the blade in deep and pulling it out again roughly. The black beast shrieked at receiving such a wound to its body, the black inky substance that seemed to form it oozing out like blood. Knick didn't stop as he swung his neck again and cut at the other front leg of the monster, rolling away as it toppled over unable to support itself. 

There wasn't much time. Knick charged the beast while it was injured and rammed it so the large unicorn fell to its side. Raising his head he sunk his ax into the monster's side, it crying out as it bled again from the wound. Knick did it again. And again. And again. The ghostly unicorns cried out and pulled hard at their chains, filling the lobby with echoing noises of pain like a choir of the damned. They yanked desperately to get at the two ponies trying to murder each other. Though as it turned out one wasn't trying any longer; Knick had proven to be the better of the two.

His ax sunk into the monster unicorn more times than Knick could accurately keep track of, his own coat was becoming splattered with the black blood produced from the fresh wounds of his victim. Despite having the cyclops unicorn at his mercy Knick didn't stop, the anger he'd been harboring to keep from going mad finally finding an appropriate outlet. He could hack it to pieces, all he needed in tact was the head after all. 

Through his blood rage Knick only stopped when he heard the sound of something shatter. Knick looked back to see that the ghostly mare had actually broken the chain that held her in place, the lock that secured it around her neck now on the floor before her. Free of her bonds she ran at the him where he stood. Knick left the ax in the carcass of his opponent and craned his head back, pulling the silver knife free of its secure strap with his mouth and having it at the ready.

The ghostly mare charged at him and Knick was ready, the adrenaline running through his body pushing out all the pain he'd felt from his past and present wounds. When she was finally upon him Knick thrust forward and sunk the silver knife into her chest. The ghostly mare stopped short like she'd hit a wall after Knick had pierced her. Just like at the cobblestone road home these ghosts proved to be weak to silver blades. Knick pulled his head away and left it inside her, grinning to himself over the easy victory after his many battles. He'd proven to be stronger than the house of horrors. "You should have been content just to watch. I wouldn't have had to do that otherwise." The mare backed up and gasped, red blood running down her chest and legs from her wound. She looked up at Knick and the hair parted from her face.

Knick's mouth dropped open as her violet eyes were apparent, her face unmarked and clear. Much unlike the other ghostly unicorns that still stayed attached to their chains with their ripped out eyes and filthy faces. She looked down at the blade in her chest and back up to him, eyes showing confusion and sadness. She was crying. "Dreamer?" The ghostly foal at the wall suddenly stopped crying, her body dropping dead against the wall where it was chained. The ghostly mare falling to floor as well. "Dreamer Dust no! Dreamer... how!? I don't understand!"

Knick laid on the floor before her, holding her hoof in his and not feeling the deathly drain that the other unicorn ghosts had used against him. "I don't... I don't understand! Why are you here? How is that even possible? Oh no, I killed you. I killed you." Dreamer's head began to drop onto the floor, her blood still flowing freely. The ghostly filly suddenly stopped moving as she also dropped dead in her bonds. Dreamer's violet eyes stared at Knick pleadingly. "Please, please don't die. Oh I didn't know it was you I swear. Dreamer please don't go I just learned who you were and who we were together and... there's so much I wanted to say to you when I got back."

Dreamer suddenly gasped hard and the school filly against the wall stopped moving altogether. Knick's hooves were shaking hard as he watched the light in his best friend's eyes slowly fade away as death was claiming her. "No please no please don't leave me. Dreamer listen I know who you are, who we used to be. We were best friends and we lived in Canterlot together and I forgot everything but now it can be okay cause I remember." The blood was seeping into his coat while he laid next to her but Knick didn't notice as he tried to talk her into staying with him. "I remember now and we can all be okay. Just please don't go okay? Just don't go. Just don't go! Just don't-" There was a crack of thunder and Knick felt his body shudder out of his control. 

When his body stopped shaking Knick pushed himself off of the wooden floor and looked down at his own body. Through his chest he could see the hole that had pierced his torso. He tried to speak but instead he coughed up blood onto the wooden floor. Eyes wide Knick turned around to see the cyclops unicorn, it was on its hooves again despite the ax sticking out of its neck and its body covered in wounds. It had got him. He couldn't tell the blood on the floor apart from his own now. 

Knick desperately tried to stand, to keep fighting, to save his friend (that he had brought to this state). To find the inner strength that had fueled him all of his way. He was barely on his hooves before the cyclops unicorn knocked him onto the blood stained floor again. Knick tried to roll away but it wouldn't allow it, instead rolling him onto his back with its hooves and holding him in place. The monsters eye turned away from Knick and looked at the body of the pure white Dreamer Dust with her grey mane, seeing the blade in her chest and her blood on the floor. 

It looked past her and Knick could tell it saw the death of all the fillies in the room. All dead due to Knick's rage, due to him pushing out all reason for the sake of violence and murder. All the destruction caused after Knick had achieved his victory. The monster looked down to him again and lowered its head, positioning the horn over the golf ball size hole in his chest. "Please... don't... I'll..." It didn't listen, instead pushing its horn through the open wound. Knick was overwhelmed with pain. 

He couldn't reason or think anymore, he couldn't make sense of what was happening around him. There was no puzzle to solve, there was no great enemy to defeat now. There was just darkness and blood and pain and violence. His hooves reached out for Dreamer Dust desperately looking to her to save him. His hoof searched for hers, instead it found the handle of his silver blade. 

The monster unicorn slowly pulled the horn back out of the wound it had made in his torso, its mask now stained with Knick's blood. As it pulled the horn out agonizingly slow it raised its horn and positioned it over Knick's heart. It intended to stab him and end it. Knick stabbed first. 

Grasping the silver blade with his hooves he clumsily arched himself forward enough to drive it downward and sink into the eye on the mask. The blade sunk in deep and the monster unicorn reared its body upward with a hateful cry. The mask around its face began to crack and weaken, the eye looking every direction but unable to see with the blade stuck through it. As the monster bucked and kicked around him in pain Knick pulled his weakening body towards Dreamer's. He felt the world shake like it was coming undone. 

"Dreamer... Dreamer if you can hear me... I don't know what's happening anymore. I think I'm dying." If he'd been certain of anything in this world he was certain of this. "I messed up. I don't... I don't understand what I did but I messed up. I couldn't deal with it all, it was too much. Dreamer I-" Knick coughed hard and blood spilled from his throat. The black unicorn fell to the wooden floor finally as it died again, the mask over its face cracked and crumbling. "I don't know what's going on but if you can hear me; I'm sorry I forgot you. I love you too Dreamer Dust. Listen if you escape if... if you get out please tell her that I loved her. Tell Annie she was the best part of my life and that I'm sorry I..." He coughed hard, he was running out of breath to speak. She didn't look at him with those violet eyes any longer, he didn't know if any of his words had gotten through.

The lamps on the chandeliers were dimming, the world seemed to be sinking into blackness. He didn't know where he was going but he didn't think he'd be around long enough to see where their decent took them. How ironic if the exit was opening up now. Using the last of his strength Knick made his head turn around enough to look at the black unicorn. The mask had shattered from the blade and fallen from its face. Its identity revealed to him at last. Knick stopped fighting as he finally saw who it was that had been following him all this time. "Oh... I get it now." 

The room was consumed in black and pulled into the abyss that created it. Six dead ponies laid upon the floor of the room as the darkness ripped it apart and pulled it in deeper. None of them would ever move again as they had, nothing in this place would escape the dark that held them. 

Then there was nothing left of this place an orange earth pony once stood.


	14. Chapter 14

A soft cover of fog rolled through the streets of Ponyville, a grey light spilling forth from the sun through the sheet of clouds draped across the sky. The only visible creature outside being a lone unicorn. Her hair was long and curled, her steps slow and careful. She walked slowly through the silent streets of Ponyville. Slowly her mouth opened looking upward at the dreary sky with her violet eyes. 

"Sheesh, can't you guys do something about the clouds at least?" Dreamer Dust called out to the pegasus above her, the white pony stopping to see her below and smiling sheepishly as she caught him mid-flight. 

"Oh hey Dreamer Dust. Sorry, we're trying to get all of these clouds together in time to bring in enough rain and we kind of forgot about the fog that came with it. I'll clear a path for you." The white pegasus named Cloud Kicker flew down and used his wings to blow the fog aside. The weather giving way to his pegasus magic easily. "That better?" 

"Much, thank you Cloud. Sorry if I snapped at you, I ran out of tea this morning and I feel like the walking dead." The unicorn yawned and covered her mouth with a hoof. 

"No problem, we're going to be setting off the clouds in an hour or so. Be sure to be inside before it comes down okay?" The friendly pegasus waved to her and flew back up into the sky to assist the other weather ponies. Dreamer Dust waved back and watched him go, then trotted through the road towards the farm of her good friend. She didn't have to go far before she met up with said pony halfway there unexpectedly. 

"Howdy Dreamer. Lookin' like it's gonna come down hard this time, don't it?" The light green earth pony with the silver braids said cheerfully. "Guess that's lucky fer us though on the farm. The orchard could use a good drink." 

"Annie Smith, you didn't have to come all this way to see me." Dreamer said half out of concern. "I could have escorted you from your house you know. We gotta be sure you're fit as a fiddle more than ever before. No unnecessary risks." Dreamer fussed over her friend and the two mares started walking away from the town. 

"Awww hush now Dreamer. Ah may be showin' a bit but that don't mean ah can't still handle a little walk now and then." Showing she was. Annie Smith wasn't over weight but her added bundle of joy was starting to come become apparent on her figure the further along she got in her pregnancy. All of her friends worried and fussed over her every time the headstrong pony tried anything strenuous. It was sweet but Annie personally hated not being able to do things herself. 

"Well I'd feel better being with you the whole way to be absolutely positively sure you were okay." Annie rolled her eyes but it didn't deter Dreamer's smile. "I guess we're overdue for a visit huh? We haven't been by to see him since we went to Canterlot to sell the last of the products." 

"Ah reckon so. It's kinda funny but ah get all nervous and jittery when ah go up tah talk with 'em. Not like I'm spooked out tah be there just... ah'm never sure what tah say." Annie looked at Dreamer with a nervous and tired smile, her friend rubbing a hoof against her back lightly.

"I know what you mean. I don't think we have to say anything though. It's probably enough that we just come by to say hello. Besides Annie, if he's anywhere I'm sure he's always nearby checking up on you." Annie blushed a little and Dreamer thought it was pretty cute to see her still get flustered over him. 

"Shucks, yer gonna make me even more nervous like that Dreamer." The girls turned on the path and walked towards the hill just outside of Ponyville that held its past residents. The cemetery had been on their minds ever since they returned to Ponyville from their out of town trip but neither of them had the courage to go up there alone after cleaning out Knick's store. Now that they were together it was a lot easier to find their strength. 

"Hey Annie, are you sure you're going to be able to make it up the hill? I mean... It's kind of ways up and your kind of a ways... um... 'showin'." Dreamer Dust phrased the statement as best she could. For the most part Annie was in control of her emotions but being sensitive to a pregnant mare who still had a lot of her bucking strength was always a good idea. 

"Why ah can climb up this hill no problem. Heck, WE can climb up this hill no problem. Walk in the park." Annie Smith said confidently and strolled through the gate of the cemetery and up the incline, Dreamer strolling just behind her to keep an eye on the green pony. They got up about half way before Annie was taking some deep breaths and paused. "Um... just admirin' the smell a them flowers is all." 

"Of course." Dreamer had her turn to roll her eyes but she didn't mind it. She'd wait all day for Annie if she had to. When she finally got the wind back in her sails Annie Smith proceeded back up the hill and down the row to where her love rested eternal. Passing by many flower beds and plaques adorned with names of loved ones long gone. 

"Hey, somepony else is out here too." Dreamer commented looking down the row at a stallion who was standing over a grave. He wore a brown jacket and a black scarf around his neck for warmth from the incoming rainy weather. The areas where his natural coat was visible the girls could see he was a white pony with speckled black spots along his coat. His mane was a deep black with blotches of white and shades of grey from age. "Wonder who that is?" 

"Hm, that's funny Ah'm pretty sure he's a unicorn." Annie peered farther down, narrowing her eyes. "Yep, he's a unicorn alright. Don't recognize 'em myself. Maybe he's a friend of Mayor Clarity?" Further inspection showed something else that was interesting about the mystery unicorn; he was standing before Knick Knack's grave. "Looks like he's checkin' out Knick's flower bed. Maybe he's confused as to where his relatives are? Hey Dreamer do you recog...nize him?" Annie wondered if maybe she did, because there was a look of surprise on Dreamer's face that Annie had never seen before. Not the kind of surprise from a birthday party or a quick startle. More like she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

"We should go." Dreamer said suddenly and Annie could hardly believe her ears.

"Go!? Ah ain't goin' nowhere. Ah just climbed up this dang hill and ah'm gonna see Knick tonight no matter who's in my way." Dreamer was shuffling her hooves and trying not to look at Annie's face.

"Then... maybe we should wait till that pony leaves. So we don't disturb him." 

"Well it's a bit too late fer that, he done spotted us already." Dreamer's head snapped up to see the unicorn looking their way. Annie wasn't sure what exactly had gotten into her friend but she was determined to speak to her love one way or another. If there was some random unicorn that wanted to hang around so be it. "Ahm headin' over there."

"Annie." Dreamer said her name almost pleadingly but she wasn't in any mood to be denied her goal with it so close. After a few fretful moments Dreamer followed behind her friend, keeping her face hidden behind her thick mane. As the girls got closer the unicorn didn't move, instead watching their approach. He was tall and thin, considerably older than the two mares and there was age carved in the lines on his face. Annie stopped before him with Knick's grave near by. "Howdy there." 

"Evening." He had a deep voice and piercing eyes. "Are you ladies taking a late night stroll? The weather is rather bad for such a thing." 

"Actually we're here tah see somepony fer the night. Yer standin' right by 'em at the moment." Annie glanced over at the bed of flowers, something that always filled her with a hint of love and sadness every time she gazed upon it. It was hard but she wouldn't give up the feeling of that love for anything. 

"Oh, so you knew Knick Knack as well?" Annie's expression became wide eyed as she looked up at the stallion.

"Y-yeah... you knew 'em too?" 

"Yes, very well actually. He was a friend of the family. His parents and I were friends and colleagues back when I was writing best sellers." The stallion glanced past Annie and looked at the violet unicorn trying to stay out of sight behind her. "Back then my daughter and he were quite the pair. It saddens me to see that he would have passed away so young." 

"Ah never met anypony that knew Knick before he moved tah Ponyville." Annie said looking amazed at this mystery stallion that suddenly had access to a whole world about her lost love that she never knew.

"Is that so?" He said curiously. "That's quite the surprise. Tell me, how did poor Knick Knack pass away?" Annie swallowed a lump in her throat that appeared suddenly when confronted with that memory. She tried to stick to the facts and leave out the emotion. 

"He... he was being treated fer some... trauma. He was havin' nightmares that were haunting him somethin' fierce." Annie tried to mind the feelings of her friend as well as she spoke. "Ah'm afraid there was an accident an... well he didn't survive." 

"That's awful." Somehow the tone of his voice wasn't as melancholy as Annie Smith had expected. "So tragic for such a promising young stallion. I'd heard about his passing from a friend of mine that runs a music store in Canterlot. She said that his marefriend had come in and sold her an antique record player. When I inquired where it was from she told me about the previous owner and his fate." 

"Ah see." Something about him was making Annie uncomfortable. He spoke politely and carefully but his tone was almost smug. It left Annie suspicious as to why he'd come all this way. "Well ah'm sorry ya had tah learn 'bout all a this second hoof." 

"Yes, I would have expected to learn about it much sooner. But you've never been good at keeping in touch, have you Dreamer Dust?" Annie looked between the two unicorns completely confused now. Dreamer rose her head up to look at the stallion, her eyes careful and glaring. "You're looking well." 

"Thank you, father." Annie's jaw dropped suddenly learning of the connection between the two ponies before her. "I'll introduce you. Annie Smith; this is my father Ink Blot. Father; this is my friend... my best friend, Annie Smith."

"A pleasure." Ink Blot extended his hoof and shook it with Annie's, the mare still getting over the sudden appearance of Dreamer Dust's father showing up in Ponyville. "So Knick Knack has left us. He was one of the good ones, very promising in his chosen line of work for an earth pony. As I'm sure you knew better than any of us." 

"Yes." Dreamer Dust responded, the tension between the father and daughter thick enough to cut with a knife. "Knicky was amazing in a lot of ways. If you've come to pay your respects then thank you for doing so. But if you don't mind we need some time alone with him." 

"Dreamer!" Annie said shocked. "Is that anyway tah talk tah yer own pa? After he came all this way tah pay his respects?" Dreamer looked at her friend and Annie could tell that she was fighting back her tears. Annie didn't really know what was going on between the two but it seemed intense. 

"No Ms. Smith it's quite alright. I'm afraid she's always had a problem with behaving correctly, despite how well I tried to raise her." Ink Blot walked past Annie now to be face to face with his daughter. The two unicorns staring at each other intently now. "Why she even abandoned me in Canterlot all by myself shortly after she graduated. That was hard for me Dreamer... being alone again. I missed you." His words almost sounded genuine and Dreamer looked as if she was going to break into tears. However she held them back. 

"I had to leave. I... I had good reasons for doing so." Dreamer was breathing carefully now as she pulled up her courage to speak. "I'm not sorry I left. But I am sorry you're still alone father. I'd hoped maybe you'd found a special somepony by now." 

"So you're sorry are you?" He said in a challenging voice. "Look at us Dreamer, is this any place you think your mother would have wanted us to be?" Dreamer Dust bit her lip as she tried not to cry but was slowly losing that battle. "I provided you everything I could and yet you threw that all away. Your schooling, your talents with magic, the connections I made. Even if my worth had dried up years ago you still had such potential. Then what did you do? You threw it all away to go chasing some silly dream of yours. Now after all these years I find you here of all places?" 

"Dreams are my talent..." Dreamer Dust said through a sob.

"Dreams are futile! You left our home and your future to go help ponies find their 'dreams', all you do is support decadence and wastefulness." Annie was too shocked to speak seeing the two of them like this. Sure she'd fought with her father before but deep down she always loved him and he the same. There was so much venom in their words towards each other you'd think they were enemies. "Telling fortunes? You tell lies and speak words other ponies want to hear. You took the path that was easiest so you'd never have to pull your silly head out of the clouds." Dreamer was crying now as she cast her head down towards the grass, the sky rumbled threatening rain on the three ponies. "Now here you are with absolutely nothing. No future, no family and not even a husband to show for it. You're a disgrace." 

"That is enough!" Annie shouted and got between the two of them, glaring at Ink Blot. "Now ah don't know ya from the Princess but ah ain't gonna stand by and listen tah another word ah this in front of Knick's grave of all places!" 

"This is a family matter Ms. Smith." He was polite towards Annie but his tone was arrogant and cruel. "This goes back farther than you know between the three of us. It involves him as much as my wasteful daughter." 

"Well he's the father of my foal, so if ya got an issue with him ya got an issue with me." Those words seemed to stop the stallion in his tracks as he looked Annie Smith over and took notice to the size of her torso where she carried her precious bundle of joy. He glanced between the two mares and suddenly his arrogant face returned.

"Oh Dreamer... it wasn't even you." He said looking at the violet unicorn who couldn't raise her head to meet his gaze. "I knew his marefriend had come by, I asked what the ponies had looked like and I knew you had been there. But to think that this whole time your precious Knick Knack was in love with another. Why did you even come to this town in the first place?" Annie was confused now more than ever as she looked back at her unicorn friend who refused to lift her head. 

"Dreamer... what's he talkin' 'bout?" Dreamer just shook her head, her thick mane shaking along with it. 

"Tell me then my precious only daughter." Ink Blot leaned forward towards her. "Who exactly was it that treated him and was the result of his death?" Dreamer rose one of her hooves to her eyes to cover them as she started to sob hard. "I see. I wish I could say I was surprised by this. I honestly never would have thought you to take that path. You are my daughter after all though." 

"Leave!" Dreamer growled the word more furious than Annie had ever heard her say anything else. Ink Blot nodded to himself and his horn lit up with his magic. One of his pockets opening up and a green, mint leaf hair clip floated out. 

"Very well. Here, when you moved out so abruptly you left this behind. I'm sure your mother would have wanted you to keep it. It just keeps bringing back memories for me." Ink Blot floated the hair clip onto Dreamer's mane, she didn't fight it. "I should get going back now if I want to catch the next train to Canterlot. It was good seeing you again Dreamer Dust. Nice to meet you as well Ms. Smith." 

"The pleasure was all yers." Annie retorted though she was more mixed up than ever. Ink Blot didn't seem to take offense as he walked away from the two ponies towards the exit of the cemetery. Annie waited until he was far out of sight before she turned to her friend. "Dreamer Dust?" 

"Annie!" Dreamer suddenly threw her front legs around her friend and hugged tightly, crying against her shoulder. Annie was taken by surprise as she was sure at this stage of her pregnancy she'd be the one in hysterical crying fits out of the two of them. They stood there near their friend's grave in comforting embrace before Dreamer finally found control of herself. She pulled back and wiped her eyes dry, slowing down her breathing. "I'm sorry Knicky... I didn't mean to ruin today for you and Annie. I'm sorry Annie, I just..." 

"Shhh, Dreamer Dust, there there now." Annie said patting the unicorn on her back. "It's okay. Ah can tell that there's somethin' goin' on there between ya'll." 

"Yeah... there is. Dreamer, can you come over to my house? Like right now?" 

"Like... right now right now?" Annie said a bit surprised.

"Right now right now. It's important." She was looking at Knick's flower bed as she said the words, Annie figuring it must have been a serious issue for her to impose like this. Dreamer had gone out of her way always to make sure she never inconvenienced Annie. This was actually the first time she really asked anything of Annie since she requested to be hired at the shop. 

"Okay then, ah'm sure Ma and Pa will understand. We should get goin' though, it's gonna rain any sec now." 

"Yeah, okay. Lets go." Dreamer Dust got up and helped Annie back down the hill till they were both on even ground again. On the way back to Dreamer's store the unicorn made a quick stop by the post office. Annie didn't understand why but she made sure to put the hair clip her father had given as a gift into an envelope and dropped it in the mail box. She asked why Dreamer would do such a thing but she didn't want to talk about it until they were back at her home. 

The rain was starting to fall just as they got to Dreamer's door. The unicorn let her friend in and then was sure to look around outside before closing the door and locking it. She shut the drapes to her windows and lit some candles around the house to provide them with light. Annie laid on some plush pillows that had been provided for her by her friend on past visits and was glad to get off her hooves. Carrying the little one around was getting to be harder every day.

"Okay, we can talk safely now." Dreamer Dust sat near by Annie and still averted her gaze. "I imagine you have a lot of questions." 

"Darn tootin'." Annie expressed with her unique method of speech. "Ah don't even know where tah begin though. Ah mean... yer father back there. Ah can't even believe that. Ah've never seen a pony be so cruel tah his kin before. It ain't right." 

"My father is a very stern pony." Dreamer explained. "He wasn't very happy when I decided to move out of Canterlot on my own. Truth be told I didn't even tell him when I was leaving, I just packed my bags and ran away from home as fast as I could. I imagine he was furious with me for it. I did abandon him after all." 

"That don't justify the way he talked tah ya back on that hill." Annie countered still angry that he'd speak that way to her in front of Knick's grave no less. "Ah see him again 'round these parts ah might have Spring Shade and Tough Odds have a chat 'bout manners with 'em. If ah don't buck 'em myself." 

"Thank you Annie. But you have to understand my father never really recovered after losing my mother. She... she passed away giving birth to me. I think he blames me for it." Dreamer admitted and Annie reached out and put a hoof on hers.

"Dreamer Dust, don't go blamin' yerself for things outta yer control." Dreamer smiled at the comfort she was receiving from Annie, approaching the dreaded part of her story. 

"There's... there's more to it than that. Annie listen I'm going to tell you things I've never told anypony. Things that can never leave these walls. You might not think of me the same way after you learn about what I'm going to tell you. Are you sure you still want to hear?" Annie wasn't sure what exactly Dreamer was speaking about, but if it had to do with her and her deceased love she was willing to endure any shocks. 

"Lay it on me." Annie agreed and Dreamer took a breath getting ready to confess.

"As you probably figured out already I knew who Knick was before I moved to Ponyville. We've actually known each other since we were foals and went to school together all the way up and after we got our cutie marks. My father is a writer you see and he was very successful when he was younger. Knick's father was a publisher and my father was one of his biggest money makers. He promoted my father's books and they had a successful partnership while it lasted." 

"I... never knew anything about Knick's papa." Annie said realizing that she didn't really know much of anything about Knick's life before Ponyville. 

"I'm not surprised. His father's name was Book Mark and his mother's name was Twinkle Star. She was really a great mare. She was very nice and she was pretty much the closest thing I ever had to a mom myself." 

"Was?" 

"She... she's dead. Both of Knick's parents are dead." Annie looked hurt by the knowledge and went she went to ask more about it Dreamer raised her hoof to delay her questions. "You see after my mother died and it was just me and my father. He wasn't very available emotionally to me after the loss, much less competent in taking care of a foal. He ended up asking for help a lot in how to raise me, usually receiving that help from Twinkle Star. My father being the widower he was often spent a lot of time alone, never doing well when it came to meeting other mares his own age. The only one he talked well with was Knick's mother." Annie had an idea of where this was leading though she didn't like the path it was going down. 

"I'm more than certain that my father was in love with Twinkle Star. His behavior changed when ever she was around and he was always a lot nicer to her than other ponies. But she was the wife of his best friend and partner, so naturally she was off-limits to him. My father always seemed to have a habit of longing for something he himself couldn't have... I guess we both had that in common." She looked down again at the table. 

"Dreamer... what is all a this building up tah?" 

"I was in love with Knick Knack, Annie." Dreamer confessed finally. "I was completely in love with him. He was my most constant friend growing up and the one pony I could turn to when I needed to feel good about life. I had other friends as I got older but I wasn't able to ever forget about him. To me... he was my one true love." She lifted her head to look at Annie. "But I wasn't his true love." 

"Wait now, just hold up a minute. Ah remember the day ya moved tah Ponyville. Ah remember it crystal clear like." All of this was snowballing fast with revelations and Annie was doing her best to keep up. "Ah was even there with Knick Knack and he didn't know who ya were any more than the rest of us. How could he have fergotten ya so easily if ya'll spent your foalhood together." Dreamer took another deep breath as she prepared to let loose her explanations once more. It was something Annie wasn't sure if she was ready to hear or not. She didn't have a choice though, Dreamer's burden had become her own. She'd help her unicorn friend bear it.

"Your right, he didn't remember me. I was... I was pretty foolish. I mean after I finally learned where Knick had ended up after all those years the first thing I did was run out on my father and head for Ponyville. I don't even know what I was thinking back then. The whole train ride over I dreamed of how much better my life was about to become when I saw him again. Like a fairy tale we'd be reunited together and live happily ever after... but..." 

"But ah ruined yer fairy tale endin'... right?" Dreamer Dust shook her head hard in response. 

"No. I was being stupid from the beginning. When Knick introduced himself to me like a complete stranger my life suddenly came to a halt. The pony I'd longed for my whole life not only forgot about me but he didn't need me like I needed him. Shortly after that I learned that you two... well what you two meant to each other. I was completely devastated. When I came home I sat there wondering if there was even really any point to keep going on." Annie put both hooves around Dreamer's and held them to her, the unicorn happy for the comfort that Annie provided. "I wont lie Annie, I hated you at first. You stole my Knicky from me in my eyes. Even if that was never actually the case." 

"Ah never meant tah hurt ya." 

"Don't apologize Annie, it was my own fault. I thought that somehow I could show Knicky that the fancy unicorn from Canterlot was better than some farm girl. That if I got him to come to me then he'd remembered what we once were and... and..." Dreamer started crying again and leaned against the green earth pony. "Sorry. I told you I was a crybaby." 

"Dreamer, ah get how ya felt and ah don't hold no ill will towards ya fer what's happened in the past. Ya know that right?" Dreamer nodded against her friend and sat up again, wiping her eyes. "But that still don't explain why Knick had no idea who ya were. How could he forget so much about his past?" Dreamer braced herself for what she was about to reveal next, steadying her nerves.

"You wont like this." She admitted in a grave tone. "Years ago when we were still in school Knick's father was going to another town to promote a new author he was publishing. They were desperate for another big seller and Knick's dad was working hard to make it happen. They rented a wagon to take the books themselves instead of paying for a train to take them." Dreamer pushed some of her hair out of her face to look at Annie. "The road was long but generally not considered to be that dangerous. Ponies traveled farther on hoof and nothing bad ever happened." 

"But?" Annie asked now starting to regret she had ever asked about this.

"But... well, you see I talked to Knicky that same day earlier. He had said he was going to stay home for the weekend while his parents traveled. I figured he wanted to spend time with his friends so knowing he'd be home all weekend and by himself I tried to tell Knicky what my feelings were. It didn't come out well, looking back I think I may have scared him off. Maybe... it's my fault? He might not have gone on that trip at all if I didn't say those things to him. Maybe he knew I was planning to try and visit him when he was alone so he..." Dreamer was getting wide eyed as she was falling back into her past memories and possible blame on herself. Annie put a hoof to her shoulder to bring her back.

"Dreamer Dust, what happened next?" Dreamer stared at Annie and slowly nodded as she continued.

"Right, sorry... in any case Knick didn't stay home and went on the trip with them. The road took them past one of the wild woods that grows without ponies to govern it. There was bad weather that gathered over the trees there and they thought it provided cover to their attackers." 

"They were attacked on the road?" Annie asked in shock and Dreamer nodded her head slowly. "By who? Ponies don't normally go round robbing wagons and coaches." 

"The investigators said it was dogs." Despite saying those words Annie could tell there was something more to it by Dreamer Dust's body language. "There was a group of them called the Hunting Dogs. Years earlier they were known for attacking traveling ponies and robbing them for food. Eventually somepony got killed and the royal guards were called in. The executions of the criminals were brutal enough that it scared the rest of the dogs into behaving. Apparently though that wasn't the case for these three." 

"There was three of 'em? So they caught 'em?" Annie asked looking for some sort of justice in this story but Dreamer shook her head.

"No one ever found the dogs who did it. Knick's family's wagon was pulled into the woods but it wasn't hidden very well. A pegasus flying by spotted it and went down to investigate. She found them down there but..." Dreamer grabbed onto Annie's hooves and held them tightly. "All she found was Knicky. He was tied to a tree, he'd been there for days maybe. He was starving and delirious when she eventually found him." Dreamer was holding Annie's front legs tight for support for herself, not wanting to continue. Annie couldn't leave it at just that though.

"What about Knick's parents?" 

"They were there. The dogs ate them." She held Annie's hoof tightly in her own hooves. "They ate them and they left Knicky with the bones. He... he put them together again! She said she found him with the skeletons put together and Knicky keeping them close. He was holding his own parents corpses for comfort." 

"'Give them back. I can fix them.'" Annie repeated to herself, remembering the words from Knick's nightmare of the last night they had spent together. "Oh Celestia, that's what he was dreamin' 'bout. He was trying not tah remember it." Annie dwelt on the horrifying history of her love's past. The pony she loved had suffered so much that he'd blocked it all out. "No wonder he never spoke none about his family or where he'd been before Ponyville. He couldn't remember it cause it was so awful."

"Annie." Dreamer spoke up seriously. "Do you remember that hair clip my father gave me before he left?" That seemed like an odd question but she hadn't forgotten something from so recently past.

"Yeah, ah remember. Ya mailed it off somewhere pretty fast. Ah didn't quite understand what ya'll were doin' but it seemed like ya had a good idea." Dreamer nodded.

"Yes, you see, that hair clip was mine from when I was just a filly. My father always told me it belonged to my mother but... I don't even know if that much was true or not." She said sadly. "My father was always protective of me but also very strict. Growing up he never wanted me to go anywhere I wasn't supposed to and whenever I did do something out of the ordinary he almost knew about it instantly." Annie tried to process the significance of that.

"So... he was watching you?"

"It's almost impossible to watch another pony non-stop unless you were behind them at all times. But if you're a unicorn there are options available to you. You see my father wasn't ever the best at magic but he did have talent. I'm better than he ever was but even with his skill level I'm able to recognize what kind of magic he could have done. When I was little sometimes at night if I wandered too far or if I didn't come home I'd see... well monsters is the only thing to call them. Huge beasts that had long claws for snatching ponies. I believed in them for a long time until I learned a few things about creating illusions with magic." The words were starting to make sense to Annie.

"So yer pa was makin' monsters appear outta thin air tah scare ya back home? Seems awfully extreme." 

"Extremes were something my father specialized in. His main subject of study was dealing with the minds of deranged ponies who were mentally ill. His books on the subject were best sellers and it paid for most everything in our lives. Still to make an illusion like that every time you'd have to know exactly where the pony you were fooling was going to be. There's no way to do that unless you can predict the future or track your victim. Which can be done if you have a magical item that lets you follow somepony every step they take." 

"Wait, yer sayin' that yer' pa was using that little bitty hair clip tah follow yer every move?" 

"Yes, I recognized the spell on it much later when I was older. Annie listen... that year my father gave Book Mark a pocket watch for his birthday. It was something Knick's dad wore all of the time. My father also had a study that he almost never let me inside of unless he was around. I knew my father had books for his work in there but he also had magical books as well, some with powerful but simple spells that can be used for things like teleportation or self defense." Annie didn't like where this was going, her blood pressure was rising at just the thought of it. 

"Dreamer Dust, yer not suggestin' what ah think ya are tah me." 

"Annie my father was obsessed with Twinkle Star. I could tell that every time he saw her it pained him because he couldn't be with her himself. That night Knick's family went missing off the road, I heard my father come into the house late at night. I didn't know why he'd been outside but I knew that it was a lot later than he normally stayed awake even when he was working. With the kind of magic even a unicorn like him could do... Annie I've always suspected that my father may have killed Knicky's parents." Annie was trying to keep herself in check but her mood was starting to rise out of control. She was angry over the things she'd heard, over the suffering Knick Knack had gone through. But now she was angry about even more.

"You knew!?" Annie stood up and looked down at Dreamer Dust, the rain pounding against the earth outside adding to Annie's fury. "You knew he did that to him? You knew your father killed the mare ya thought of as a mother and ya said nothing!?" Annie was seething with anger; before she could have forgiven everything about Dreamer's past. She was just as much of a victim as Knick Knack had been. But now to think she'd hold back this information that would bring a killer to justice. "Ah thought ya loved Knick? Ah thought tah ya he was yer special somepony? Now yer tellin' me that ya let a murderer walk free and left Knick tah suffer alone in the woods, nearly dying? How? How!? How could ya ever let such a thing be!?" 

"He's my daddy!" Dreamer said through a new batch of tears. "Despite everything he's my daddy. He was my family growing up and took care of me and held me when I needed to be loved. He was my daddy, I couldn't help but love him." Dreamer said in helpless shame. "Besides I didn't know for sure at the time. It wasn't until many years later when we visited Knicky's parents graves that he admitted how sad he was that Twinkle Star had died. He never said that about Book Mark. It took me a long time to even figure out how he could have done it with magic, or that he was that obsessed over Knicky's mom that it would drive him that far." Despite Dreamer's explanation the fire in Annie's heart wasn't put out. She was angry for her fallen lover and his family, for her foal's family. She wanted vengeance. 

"We can do somethin' 'bout it now though. Ya can make it right Dreamer. We can tell Mayor Clarity and he can get a hold of the royal guard in Canterlot." Dreamer shook her head.

"Annie it's too late. Don't you think my father would have thought about that? He's a very smart pony." She sighed and stood up as well. "Regardless of what actually happened and how things got to where they were the trail is cold. It would just be speculation if we accused him of a murder so many years ago. All it would do is drag him into the public spotlight and shame him further into depression. My daddy already has such little left to live for." She looked away from her friend. "I don't want one of the last things I do to him being that I accuse him of a crime that there's no proof to actually land on him. To be what drives him to his grave." 

"So then ah gotta just live with it?" Annie asked and Dreamer looked her in the eyes again. "Knowin' the pony that drove my foal's grand parents to their deaths and possibly caused Knick's crippling dreams and memories is still out there free as a bird?" 

"I know you're angry, I've been upset about this my whole life. But nothing will be accomplished by fighting this with him. My father's light died out that night and he's been a shadow of what he once was. Taking the life of the one you love... even by accident... what's the point of living anymore?" Dreamer said looking away again. "If he should die then I should go with him. It's like he said; I'm his daughter. We're poison to the ones we love." Annie was still burning with a righteous anger. It had all been so much to process in a single night and the little one within her felt her distress as it moved. This reminder shifting Annie's focus to the child Knick had been forced to leave behind. "Maybe this world would be better without us. Before we cause more harm." 

"Dreamer, lift yer head up." Dreamer slowly picked her head up from the floor, and was surprised when she felt her friend nuzzle her face. "Ya can't be that poison, ya understand?"

"I... I don't honestly." She said blinking but grateful for the comfort Annie gave her.

"Tonight yer burden is mine too. Ah'm startin' tah understand a lot about what a pony needs tah do tah survive in this world. Sometimes ya gotta be silent about the things around ya, and let 'em fade so they don't consume ya from the inside." She thought of her father and how he had taken on the burden of caring for ponies that were afflicted by the darkness of this world and its unavoidable pain and unknowable threats. How he worked to keep that darkness from consuming them and the guilt he felt at failing in doing so. She'd stop it now though before it could possibly take root. "Ya gotta be strong now, ya hear? Ya don't have a choice anymore cause somepony has to carry on yer family line too. Now that's restin on yerself." 

"I don't think anypony is going to want to be my special somepony again Annie. This family is tarnished and cursed. I don't deserve..."

"Hush now, no more a that. Ah wont allow it. Yer my friend and yer the closest pony tah me ever since this little foal here started slowin' me down. Ponyville, the bright side of Ponyville, it loves its neighbors. Yer one of 'em. So from here on out ah want ya tah believe ya can be loved and love again too." 

"But it's so hard." She responded with a pained expression. Dreamer did have a lot of weight to bear, almost more than Annie herself with how much guilt she carried. Still she wasn't alone. 

"Ah know, but that's why ya got friends. So please don't leave me alone too. Okay Dreamer Dust?" The pregnant mare held out her hoof waiting for the unicorn to take it. She stared at the green leg for a while before lifting her own foot and holding it against hers. 

"Okay Annie Knack. I'll stay for you... because you're my friend." 

"Least till ya'll start to notice that Tough Odds has had a thing for ya since ya got tah Ponyville." Dreamer's eyes widened up when Annie mentioned of a pony liking her like that.

"He has? But he's never said anything!" 

"Course not, he's too shy tah go up tah a pretty pony an' just ask her out on a date. Wither Rose and Spring Shade been checkin' that flank a yours out too but ah wouldn't let those rascals get a piece of it if ah were you." Dreamer laughed lighty and that got a smile out of Annie as well. 

"Thank you Annie. You're pretty amazing you know that? Your foal is going to be so very lucky." 

"Shucks, twern't nothin'." Annie said blushing at the compliment. "But ah think ah'm a bit worn out after tonight. Ya mind if ah crashed on yer couch fer the evenin'?" 

"Of course I mind!" Dreamer said in a sudden haughty attitude. "A pregnant mare on my couch, why what would the rest of the town think?" She suddenly turned Annie around with her magic carefully and directed her towards the bedroom. "You're getting my bed. I'll take the couch. There's no way the two of you are going to fit on it all night anyway." 

"That a fat joke?" Annie suddenly asked more loudly than she intended. 

"Well you are taking up the whole door way trying to get through." Annie gave Dreamer a glare and she started giggling. "Sorry sorry! I didn't mean it honest! Was just too good to pass up." 

"Hmph. Yer lucky ah like ya so much ya fancy-shmancy unicorn." 

"Well I happen to like you a lot too, you back-water earth pony." The two mares smiled at each other and gave each other big hugs before they went to bed. "Good night Annie Knack."

"Good night Dreamer Dust. Hope ya'll be havin' pleasant dreams." The two went to bed that night and slept soundly as the rain beat against the roofs of Ponyville. Their minds slowly putting to rest the sad memories of the past, thinking of the future that would be waiting for them both tomorrow and every day after. Their dreams were pleasant ones, their kindness keeping the dark at bay. Watched over lovingly by those no longer with them, but who would never leave their hearts.


End file.
